Interlude
by just.keep.swimming.slowly
Summary: George finds love in an unexpected new face, but with the threat of war approaching, can it last? Set during The Prisoner of Azkaban and on. Previously titled New Beginnings. GW/OC [DISCONTINUED; Being rewritten as Wonder]
1. Prisoner of Azkaban, part 1

Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or it's many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books. This story begins during the Prisoner of Azkaban.**

**I**

George trailed along behind his brother as they made their way to the great hall. Dumbledore had called for a school wide meeting, and He and Fred were currently fighting the throng of students as they pressed their way into the hall. An unnatural chill had permeated the large halls of Hogwarts since the beginning of the year; the introduction of the Dementors had only made the early October drafts worse. George glanced out of a high window and shivered. He could make out a few of the ghastly creatures that were suspended in the air. He turned away from the sight, and towards Fred. His brother grinned at him as they took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. The golden trio was sitting a few seats away from them, their heads bent together and deep in discussion. Ever since the escape of Sirius Black, a gloom had woven its way around Harry. Even Ron, in all of his oblivion, had noticed.

"Wonder what old Dumbledore wants us for." said Lee Jordan as he took a seat beside Fred.

"Yeah, we haven't had a full meeting since we were first years." said Fred with a contemplative look on his face. He ran his hand through his vivid ginger hair and George shook his identical red locks playfully.

"Oi, Dumbledore's about to start." said George as he nodded his head up towards the tall podium where the old wizard stood patiently waiting for the confused buzz around him to die down.

"I'm sure you all are confused as to why I have gathered you here today. Over the summer, I began correspondence with the headmistress of the Salem school in America. She had mentioned that some of her students had expressed interest in attending Hogwarts, and so we agreed to allow a student of her choosing to join us. This student will be arriving Wednesday- tomorrow-and will be sorted. That being said, we will not be having classes tomorrow or Thursday, and I expect nothing but courtesy and welcome." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he gazed at the excited students. "Are there any questions?" he asked. Many hands shot into the air and Dumbledore smiled happily.

"Yes Miss Granger?" he asked.

"Sir, I was wondering, could you give us any more information on the student?"

"Ah, yes. Her name is Ivy Miller, and I believe she is in her fifth year." said Dumbledore.

Hermione nodded her head and smiled slightly. She looked excited by the prospect of a fresh face, as did many. Dumbledore called on a sixth year Ravenclaw and George became lost in his thoughts. He didn't realize that the meeting had ended until his twin had nearly hit him to get his attention.

"Forge! Oi! This is about the fiftieth time I've said your name. What were you thinking about?" asked Fred teasingly. They towered over the majority of the student body, and everyone gave them a wide berth as they pushed into crowded hallway; for fear of being the victim of a prank if they jostled one of them too much. George rolled his eyes as they ducked into a secret shortcut to their common room.

"Nothing of importance Gred." he said.

Fred grinned at him. "You were probably wondering if this new witch would be nice to look at, weren't you." accused Fred with a light mocking tone to his voice.

"Oh shut it, you were thinking the same thing" said George as a light blush crept its way onto his cheeks. He had, in fact, been thinking that very thing. None of the birds at Hogwarts had caught his eye, and though he had dated a few of them, the stints had been brief. He had been incredibly bored by the majority of them. They were all far too wrapped up in themselves to be decent conversationalists.

"You know I had someone else on my mind." said Fred in mock hurt. "Or did you forget? Oh, I thought you knew me better than anyone!" George rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. They stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

"Fortuna Major" said George nonchalantly. The portrait swung open, revealing the warm reds and golds of the circular common room.

"Freddie, you know Angelina won't notice you unless you _make a move_" he said with a smirk as he steered his brother up to their shared dormitory. They quickly changed into their night clothes and clambered into their large beds. George lay under the covers and wondered what this new girl would be like. His heavy eyelids finally fluttered shut, and sleep overcame him.

**II**

The day on the scarlet steam engine passed quickly for Ivy as she had spent the day sleeping in her private compartment. The train was quite empty, save for the conductor, and she was terribly bored. She scratched her head tiredly and stretched; rising from her uncomfortable position with a yawn. She glanced out the window and saw that the sun had begun its rapid descent, the sky began turning pink and was streaked with fabulous shades of light purple and orange. She pulled on her plain black robes and settled back into the cushioned bench with a large book her mother had given her before she left.

Her mother and father were excited for her. They had heard all about Hogwarts from their days at Salem, and would have given anything for the chance to attend. When she told them of the opportunity, they smiled sadly, but told her she could go. She was nervous about her stay there and eagerly read anything she could get her hands on about the old castle. She now rested her back against the dark green seat with the ever heavy 'Hogwarts, a History' on her lap. She flicked through the pages and let her eyes sweep over the words. The rich language comforting her in a way nothing else could. She didn't even notice that the train had stopped and that the conductor was now standing beside her patiently.

"Miss Miller?"

"Hmm?" she asked as she looked up reluctantly from the thick tome.

"We've arrived." He said as he straightened his crisp uniform. She widened her eyes nervously and took a deep breath.

"Thank you" she said. She stood up and packed away her book. She reached up for her luggage, but he waved her hands away.

"No, no Miss Miller, your things will be waiting for you in your room."

She nodded, smiled and thanked him once more before stepping out of the train. A severe looking woman was waiting for her at the station. Her gray streaked hair was pulled into a tight bun and her black robes swirled around her.

"Miss Miller?" she asked.

Ivy nodded her head and smiled at the older witch.

"My name is professor McGonagall. If you will follow me please." McGonagall led her to a lone carriage that seemed to be pulled by itself. The two climbed in and the carriage moved on its own, up the steep mountain towards the most striking castle Ivy had ever seen. They stopped in front of a manicured courtyard, and the two women stepped out and made their way to the large double doors. Something bubbled in Ivy's stomach and her heart began to beat frantically. She was lead into an impressive Entrance Hall.

"I will tell them of your arrival. Wait here. I'll be right back." She stepped into the Great Hall and the noise stopped immediately. Ivy could have heard a pin drop from behind the doors and she began to pace and hyperventilate a bit.

"Miss Miller?" said McGonagall from behind her. Ivy turned away from the statue she had been examining. "They're ready for you."

**III**

George sat down beside Fred and listened to his argument with Ron about what was faster: the Cleansweep 5 or the Shooting Star 28. George tuned them out and let his gaze wander. Lots of students looked extremely excited about the imminent arrival of the American, and George smiled softly. He was once again lost in his thoughts.

He did that often.

Many people never noticed the differences between him and Fred. They never noticed the differences in their personalities. Where Fred was animated, George was slightly more reserved, and where Fred was more easily angered, George found it harder to be provoked. Of course these were minute differences, but they were differences all the same. His musings were interrupted by the click of boots in the great hall. He turned and saw professor McGonagall making her way to the front of the room. The Sorting Hat and stool had been already set up, and she skirted the objects, making her way to the Headmaster. She muttered something to him and he smiled widely. McGonagall nodded and made her way back to the double doors. She returned once more with an extremely petite girl walking behind her.

The Great Hall was absolutely silent as they watched her bright red face glance around at the rest of them. McGonagall said something to her and she picked up the Sorting hat and sat on the stool. She placed it on her head, and the student body watched with baited breath. The rip near the brim of the hat opened like a mouth.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted, and she removed the hat with slightly trembling hands. George and his house mates all burst into cheers and she made her way to the table.

George finally got a decent glimpse of her and inhaled sharply when he did. She was pretty- no, she was breathtaking. Her face was oval and was curtained by long medium brown hair that fell in loose waves and spirals. Her lips were pleasantly plump, and a soft red color. Her nose sloped gracefully and a small mole rested beside her left nostril. Her eyes were mesmerizing. They were large, brown and fringed by long black lashes. Of course brown eyes had always been average, yet hers were anything but. They were a warm cinnamon color; impossibly soulful and deep. She didn't look like anyone he had ever met, exotic almost.

Their eyes met for a moment, and she flushed when she realized that he had been looking at her. Well, everyone had been looking at her. She sat in the seat across from him and gave him a small smile before turning to Dumbledore, who was now standing at the podium.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore to her warmly, "I hope you will enjoy your stay with us, and we are all so glad that we have the opportunity to host you. Now, before I let you all starve, I have two fine words to share with you: Tuck in."

George chuckled affectionately, and saw that the girl was looking at Dumbledore bemusedly. When Dumbledore sat down, food magically appeared on the plates in front of them.

Fred nudged George and looked at the girl. She was staring at the food apprehensively, like she didn't know what it was.

"Need some help there?" asked George with amusement. She looked up at him and smiled again.

"Yeah, that would be great."

George blinked for a moment. He had forgotten about how different Americans sounded and he grinned. Her voice was clear and she enunciated every word precisely.

"I'm George," he said with a smirk, "and this is Fred."

Fred looked up from his large plate that was laden with food and winked at her.

"I'm Ivy." She said with a large smile.

"So Ivy, what do you need?" he asked.

"Could you tell me what this is? I don't recognize any of this food."

George grinned at her and nodded. He pointed out the different foods and Ivy finally had some on her plate. George eyed her curiously. She was talking to Lavender Brown, who was seated beside her, about the beauty products they had in the states. Lavender was squealing about some makeup brand or another, and Ivy talked to her elatedly. When she was done with this conversation, a fourth year brought up the subject of Quidditch, and she jumped into the topic with just as much fervor. George watched as she furrowed her brow, and wrinkled her nose, and pursed her lips. Her bottom lip was slightly chapped from the cold and he couldn't help but notice how talkative she was. She seemed like she could talk about anything and everything.

"OI! GEORGIE!" yelled Fred from beside him. He nearly fell off his chair and scowled at Fred, who was grinning and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Ivy was watching the scene with interest and a smile tugged on the corners of her lips. Her eyes sparkled with mirth, and it took George everything he had to turn away from her and towards Fred.

"What?" he him asked impatiently.

"I was just trying to tell you that there's apple pie tonight." He gestured to the desserts that had just replaced the extravagant feast.

"Apple pie! Oh my!" cried Ivy with excitement. She snagged a slice and dug into it with much gusto.

George chuckled and shoveled a piece onto his plate.

"What kinds of classes did you have to take at Salem?" George looked for the asker of this question, and as he expected, Hermione Granger was sitting a few seats away looking at Ivy expectantly.

"Oh! Um, we're required to take some of the usual classes, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, etcetera. There were a few muggle classes as well though. I was also in an English class, as well as Muggle History." said Ivy thoughtfully. She had finished her pie and was now talking to Hermione about the courses at her old school, and George was transfixed by the way she kept biting her bottom lip and tugging on a curl.

A sharp elbow jutted into his side, and he turned to Fred. "What?" he hissed. Fred smirked at George and glanced at Ivy. "Mate, if you stare at her any longer I might have to slap you."

George rolled his eyes. On his other side Lee's head drooped comically. His head was resting in his hands and he was snoring a little bit. George and Fred looked at each other with a mischievous glint in their eyes. George knocked his elbow off the table and Lee sat up with a jolt.

"IWASLISTENINGPROFESSER." He screamed, sitting up ramrod straight and flailing his hands slightly.

Fred and George roared with laughter at Lee, who was now wiping drool from his face. A melodic giggle sounded from across the table. George looked at Ivy, who now was trying to stifle her laughter behind her hand. He grinned at her.

"Rule one, Ivy, never hide your laughter around us or you'll be our next prank victim." said Fred with a dubious eyebrow wiggle. Ivy gulped and nodded. George smirked at her and winked. She turned a light pink color and turned away from him with a small smile. He glanced at Dumbledore and saw that he was standing. The remainder of the food disappeared from the table and Dumbledore was now holding his arms out in a wide welcome.

**IV**

"Miss Miller, we are extremely honored to have you with us. I would like to dismiss everyone to their common rooms; except for the fifth year Gryffindors." He nodded his head and students left the impressive hall, pushing and prodding each other out the doors. Many of them stopped by her and greeted her warmly. She glanced across the table and felt a rush of pleasure when she saw that George remained seated. She felt her face heat up, and looked away from rapidly. How could she not feel bashful around him? He was gorgeous. His wavy red hair fell past his ears and his smile was easy and kind; not forced like many of her new peers' had been. His deep blue eyes filled with mirth and when he had winked at her, her heart had fluttered. Of course she was immediately smitten. Boys weren't like this back home.

Yes, He and his twin were identical, but there was something about him in particular. A more reserved side, a more serious and contemplative expression had often flashed across his face when he didn't think anyone was looking at dinner; whereas Fred's smirk hadn't left his face once. Ivy wanted to get to know him; even if he wasn't interested in her. And why should he be? She was nothing near remarkable.

Nowhere near pretty.

No boys had ever pursued her at Salem, so why should any do so here?

Dumbledore resumed speaking to the nine remaining students that were seated at the red and gold draped table.

"I would like you all to show Miss Miller around tonight and tomorrow. Mister Robins and Miss Young, please explain the rules and expectations. You all may remain in here until curfew, or if you would prefer, return to the common room. Goodnight." With that, he left the large hall, and left the fifth years seated at the table. Ivy appraised them slowly. Across from her were Fred and George, and seated next to George was a boy with a wide grin on his face.

She noticed that Fred had blushed deeply when a dark skinned girl with thin braids slipped into the seat beside him, and she stored this information away. A girl with a sweet face, mousy brown hair and electric blue eyes sat in the seat beside her. A small golden P was pinned to the front of her robes. On the other side of the girl sat a boy with tight blond curls and rosy cheeks. He also had a golden P pinned to his robes.

"Hello, I'm Lee!" said the grinning boy exuberantly. Ivy raised her eyebrows in surprise. He had been snoring away happily only moments ago, and she found his over excited greeting hilarious. "Hello Lee, I'm Ivy." She said. A girl squealed from behind her and she spun around to see a tall girl clapping her hands happily. "Oh, your accent is absolutely brilliant! I'm Ingrid by the way, Ingrid Twigg." She brushed her dark auburn bangs out of her eyes and stuck out her hand.

Ivy shook it and chuckled. "I think your accent's really cool too." she said. Ingrid smiled and sat down on her other side.

"I'm Maisie, and this is Benjamin." said the mousy girl beside her. She was holding Benjamin's hand and his already rosy cheeks became redder. "We're the fifth year prefects."

Ivy nodded in understanding. They had had prefects at Salem as well. "And I'm Angelina, and this is Alicia." The girl with braids waved at her and another girl with a long black ponytail beside Angelina grinned. Fred and George reintroduced themselves, and they all decided to meet in the courtyard after breakfast for a quick tour of the campus and castle the next day. The group led her to the portrait of a fat lady, and Ivy looked at it in confusion.

"Why are we at the end of an empty hallway?" She asked slowly.

"Fortuna Major." said Benjamin with a smirk.

"Wha-" her eyes widened gleefully as the portrait swung open, revealing a doorway into a red and gold common room. The girls all led her up the staircase to their shared bedroom, and they all got ready for bed. As Ivy settled into her warm bed, which was much softer than any bed she had had at Salem, she smiled happily.

This was going to be a good year.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I did add another three characters; we don't know of anyone else in Fred and George's year besides Lee, Angelina, and Alicia. Tell me what you think!**


	2. Prisoner of Azkaban, part 2

Chapter 2

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or it's many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books.**

**I**

"Fred, I think he's absolutely smitten"

"You know Lee, I think you're right"

"He's been like that ever since we got to dormitory last night."

A muffled sound came from George's bed.

"What was that Georgie?"

"I said," George lifted his head from the pillow it had been buried in, "'She's perfect.'"

Fred blinked at him for a moment. "You're serious Georgie?" He laughed gleefully. "You hear that Lee? George thinks she's perfect! George absolutely fancies her!"

Lee rolled his eyes at Fred, who was now skipping around the room they shared with Benjamin. The blond boy left early every morning to snog Maisie behind some tapestry before breakfast, which left the bedroom to the three of them for their antics. George rubbed sleep from his eyes and stretched. He got up from the large bed and dug through his trunk, pulling on a Weasely jumper emblazoned with a large yellow F, and some muggle jeans. The two other boys dressed as well and they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

George saw Ivy was talking to Harry, and he slid into the seat beside her. Fred sat across from him and the two of them loaded their plates with toast and bacon.

"Hullo Ivy." said George when she had finished asking Harry her question. She turned to him and looked at him for a moment. He eyes flicked down to the F on his chest and back to his face. She narrowed her eyes, and then broke into a large grin. "Good morning _George."_

Fred's fork dropped onto his plate with a piercing clang. "Wait, how did you know that was George?" he asked her incredulously. George inhaled sharply. Rarely did people ever know which twin was which. Ivy smiled knowingly.

"I'm not sure, I can just tell." She shrugged. She turned back to George with a sly smile on her face. "So George, did you sleep well?" she asked him. George loved the way she said his name. It rolled off her tongue easily and smoothly, and he shivered slightly.

"Er, yeah, I did."

"Yeah, nearly woke up half of Scotland with his snoring, he did." said Fred teasingly.

Crimson crept up George's face, reaching even his ears.

"So, er, Ivy, do you want to head out to the court yard to wait for the rest of them to finish up their breakfasts?" She nodded her head and turned slightly pink. George grinned and held out his arm.

"Allow me to escort you, fair maiden." She giggled softly and looped her arm through his. She was dwarfed by him, but he didn't mind and neither did she. Her eyes sparkled happily as she looked around the polished courtyard. He led her to a stone bench and sat down, patting the place beside him. She quickly obliged and she turned towards him with a grin.

"George," she said. He smiled when she said his name, and he hoped she would never stop.

"Hm?"

"Does Fred like Angelina?"

George paused and cocked his head at her. "Why? Did she say something?"

"No, but I've never seen anyone blush as much as him when she's around." she said with a smirk. A dimple surfaced on her right cheek.

"An astute observation my dear, not many have noticed, although with eyes as beautiful as yours, I'm not surprised."

"Oh please, you probably say that to all the girls." She said bashfully.

"Only the pretty ones." said George with a wink. Her eyes grew wide and her face turned pink.

"Oh, I- I'm not-"

"Hello Ivy! How are you? Did you have a good breakfast?" Ingrid and the rest of the group had arrived and Ingrid was now bouncing around. Ivy's face returned to its normal color and she smiled at Ingrid. George furrowed his eyebrow for a moment.

She wasn't what? Pretty? How could she not think she was pretty? Ivy stood up and made her way over to Ingrid. George actually got a good look at what she had been wearing, and his jaw slackened for a moment. She was wearing a pair of snug muggle jeans, and a black sweater. No longer was her figure obscured by billowing robes, and his eyes swept her body. She had shapely legs and hips, and her waist dipped in nicely. She was quite curvy and George was stopped for a moment. He glanced around the courtyard and saw that many males had their eyes on her. His eyes went back to Ivy and she seemed absolutely oblivious to the furtive glances that many of them kept sending her. She was chatting animatedly with Ingrid and Angelina.

Her hair was blown around in the breeze, and a strand was caught on her lip. She brushed it away gently and raked her hand through her hair. He continued to watch her and was about to go over to her, when something hit him in the back of his head.

"OI!" He spun around and glared at his twin. "What was that for?"

"I told you last night that if you stared at her any more, I'd slap you."

George rolled his eyes and they ambled over to the rest of them.

"Are you lot ready to go?" asked Fred.

Ivy nodded eagerly and Ingrid looped her arm through hers. "Let's go!"

The group showed her around the grounds and to the lake. Her eyes danced with happiness and George felt his heart flutter. Never had he felt this way about a girl, and he had only just met her.

They made their way to lunch. Ivy was dragged down the bench to sit with Ingrid, and George threw a few glances at her throughout the meal. He remembered that they had Quidditch practice at noon and he groaned inwardly. Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and he all bid Ivy goodbye and headed down the sloping lawn in the quickly cooling air. He hoped that Oliver would not keep them too long; he had promised Ivy a 'real' tour of the castle. They met Oliver, Katie, and Harry down at the pitch.

**II**

Ingrid led Ivy around the castle, chattering away happily about this and that, and calling out greetings to portraits that seemed to know her by name. She was just so bubbly, and Ivy loved talking to her. She felt instantly happy around the excitable girl.

"_This_ is the astronomy tower, and _this _is a statue of an old witch, and _this _corridor leads to the charms classroom, and _this _staircase leads to the dungeons and the potions classroom." Ingrid wrinkled her nose as she said the last bit, and Ivy giggled at the expression on her face.

"What you don't like potions?" she asked Ingrid.

"No, that's not it, I think potions are fine!" said Ingrid.

"Well then what is it?"

"Snape."

"Snape? What's a Snape?"

"Not what, _who_." giggled Ingrid. "Snape is the potions teacher, and he's a greasy git, he is."

Ivy snickered at the last bit. They had finally worked their way around the castle, and dinner was now approaching. They passed by a window, and Ivy glanced out at the landscape. She stopped in her tracks and gasped.

"Ingrid!" she exclaimed.

"Yes?"

"_What_ is _that_?" Ivy pointed at a black cloaked creature that floated in mid air above the trees in the forest. She shuddered as she watched it and glanced at Ingrid who was grimacing.

"_That_ is a Dementor," she said as they turned away from the window and continued to the common room, "I can guess that you have heard about Sirius Black?"

Ivy nodded, confused about where the conversation was headed. "Those _things_ are here because of the threat of Sirius Black. They guard the wizard prison Azkaban."

They reached the common room and were climbing through the portrait hole. They flopped down into burgundy armchairs and Ivy noticed that many students were crowded around a notice board and talking excitedly.

"What's going on?" She asked a third year with bushy hair who was walking away from the excited group of students.

"Oh, they've just announced the first Hogsmeade weekend." said the girl with a smile. She walked towards an armchair by the fireplace and sat down beside a boy that looked related to Fred and George, and began her homework. Ivy turned to Ingrid.

"What's Hogsmeade?" she asked in confusion.

"It's a wizarding village that third years and up are allowed to visit. It's quite lovely too." said Ingrid excitedly. She stopped however, and turned to Ivy abruptly.

"Did you get your permission form signed?" asked Ingrid.

"Oh, um, I'm not sure." She said. She didn't remember anything about a form.

"Why don't we ask professor McGonagall after transfiguration tomorrow?"

Ivy nodded when a commotion near the fireplace got her attention. She looked over and saw that a red haired boy was swinging his pack around wildly, as a ginger blur was clutching it with all of its might. Suddenly a gray rat flew out of the top —

"CATCH THAT CAT!" yelled the boy as the cat detached itself from his bag and sprang over the table, an orange blur chasing a gray blur.

George - who had just returned from the Quidditch pitch - made a wild grab for the cat, but missed; the rat shot through twenty pairs of legs and under an old chest of drawers. The cat skidded to a halt and crouched low on its crooked legs as it made furious swipes beneath it with his paws. The red headed boy and the bushy haired girl from earlier hurried over to the animals, and they each seized their respective pet.

"Look at him! He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said the girl, her voice shaking. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal, Hermione." said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione impatiently. "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think -"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, _and_ he's ill!"

Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Ivy giggled weakly and glanced at Ingrid who was having a hard time keeping a straight face. She yawned slightly, and stood up, wishing Ingrid a goodnight. She turned around and ran straight into a firm chest. Mumbling an apology, she looked up to see George grinning at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Off to bed already?" he asked.

Ivy felt tired, but she remembered that George had wanted to show her around after his Quidditch practice. She shook her head with a smile.

"Okay, wait here for a moment. I'll be right back." He dashed up the dormitory steps and Ivy sat back down beside Ingrid.

"Ingrid," she began hesitantly

"Hm?" Ingrid looked up from the magazine she was leafing through.

"Never mind" she said, losing her nerve. She looked back at the staircase and saw George bounding down it. He had changed into a blue t-shirt, and some clean pants. He skidded to a stop beside her and held out his arm expectantly. She took it, and they left the crowded common room.

**III**

"So why did you want to give me a 'real' tour?" Ivy asked George.

"Well my dear, you may not know this, but Fred and I have discovered many an unknown passageway. They become quite useful." said George as he led her down the corridor away from the portrait.

"Ivy?" he asked her apprehensively.

"Yes?"

"Earlier, when we were talking in the courtyard, what were you about to say?"

Ivy blushed. George watched her hesitate.

"Well, you said I was pretty, and I'm— well I'm not…"

George stopped in his tracks. What made this stunning girl beside him think she wasn't pretty?

"Why d you think that?"

"Because I'm so… so, _average._" She said in a small voice.

George put his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. She chewed on her bottom lip and looked up at him with wide, sad eyes. He could almost feel his heart breaking. What had happened to her to make her feel this way?

"Ivy something Miller, you are anything but average."

She smiled at him. "You mean it?" she asked softly.

"Of course." said George. He pulled her into a tight hug, then let her go, grasped her wrist and pulled her along the hallway.

"Renee." She said suddenly.

"What was that?"

"Renee, that's my middle name."

"Well, Ivy Renee Miller, you're about to go through your first secret passage." He said with a grin. He stepped up to a tapestry depicting an old witch and wizard, and pulled her behind it.

"George, this is a wall." She said bemusedly.

"Just wait, will you?" He swept his hand along the stones, feeling for a crack. When he reached it, he slipped his fingers into it and pulled at the brick. Immediately the wall shimmered, and Ivy gasped from beside him. They stepped into a narrow hallway lit by a single torch and followed it to the end. He tapped the wall they had reached with his wand and it slid to the side, revealing the transfiguration corridor. Ivy beamed and slipped her hand into George's. Her eyes glinted with mischief.

"What's next?" she asked him.

"I thought you'd never ask." He said, as he pulled her along the corridor.

"Why are you smiling so much?" asked Fred as George slipped into the dormitory much later.

"Freddie, it's just been a good day." George flopped onto his bed with his arms under his head.

"Does this good day have anything to do with a Miss Ivy Miller?" asked Fred.

"It might."

"Well seeing as how you're being so close lipped on the subject," said Fred with a wink, "I'll just go to bed."

"Night Gred."

"Night Forge."

**IV**

The next day, Ivy awoke with butterflies fluttering in her stomach. This had been occurring since last night's excursion with George…

_George._

Ivy sighed happily and moved to her trunk to pull on her now red trimmed robes. She slipped her wand into her pocket and pinned a bit of her hair back.

"What are you sighing about?" asked a very groggy Angelina who was now rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I'm just in a good mood is all." said Ivy.

"Would this good mood have anything to do with a Mister George Weasley?" asked Angelina slyly. Ivy blushed and Angelina noticed this. She smiled and pulled on her own robes.

"I had a feeling it might. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she said with a wink, "Now budge over and quite hogging the mirror."

Ivy quickly obliged and waited patiently for Angelina to get ready. They grabbed their bags and headed down the dormitory stairs. They walked quickly into the great hall, and sat beside each other. Ingrid quickly entered and sat on the other side of Ivy.

"Morning Ivy!" she said in a bright voice.

"Good morning Ingrid." Ivy smiled at her and spread some jam onto her toast.

"Miss Miller?" McGonagall had stopped behind her and held a few sheets of paper in her hands.

"Professor?" she asked politely.

"I have a few things for you; first, here is your schedule. You'll be with your fellow fifth years for most of the day." She handed Ivy the parchment on the top of the stack, and continued speaking. "next, I expect you have heard about the Hogsmeade weekend that is approaching at the end of the month?"

Ivy nodded.

"I have a permission form for you here. Your parents have already signed it for you; we just need your signature." McGonagall produced a self inking quill, and handed it along with the form to Ivy. Ivy quickly scrawled her looping signature onto the indicated line, and handed it back to the professor.

"I'll see you in class, Miss Miller." She nodded at Ivy and marched back up to the head table.

"Looks like I'll be going to Hogsmeade!" said Ivy as she turned to Ingrid. She caught a flash of red hair down the table. She looked up hopefully, but her heart sank a bit when she saw that it was only the twins' younger brother Ron.

"Looking for someone?" said a voice from behind her. She spun around and blushed deeply.

"Ge- George. Sleep well?" she asked him. Her heart began beating frantically and Angelina scooted down to make room for him. He plopped down into the now empty seat and reached across Ivy to grab a slice of toast.

"Great, thanks!" He saw the parchment clutched in Ivy's hand. "Is that your schedule?"

Ivy nodded and glanced at it. "Yeah, um, it looks like I've got double Charms, Arithmancy, Lunch, Care of Magical Creatures, and double Transfiguration today."

George grinned at her. "I've got all those classes as well. Want to head to charms?"

Ivy looked at him skeptically. "Don't you want to wait for Fred?" she asked him. His grin grew even wider and he nodded his head down the table a bit. Ivy glanced and saw that Fred was telling Angelina about something animatedly. She giggled and looked up at George. He was standing and had his hand held out to help her off of the bench. She grasped his hand and grabbed her bag quickly, and waving goodbye to Ingrid - who was polishing off her third piece of toast - she was whisked away from the table.


	3. Prisoner of Azkaban, part 3

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or it's many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books.**

**On another note, let me know if it's getting boring. I'm still not sure where I want to take this, and I'm also working on about 2 other fics as well. I'm trying for somewhat regular updating but it's a bit impossible sometimes. **

**As always, R&R! I love hearing what you have to say, and would even love suggestions!**

Chapter 3

**I**

"Wow, Ivy, you look amazing." George's heart picked up speed as he appraised her. She was wearing a pretty silver dress and had her hair loose and streaming down her back.

"Thank you George. I'm so excited about this surprise!" she smiled coyly at him and laced her fingers through his.

"Well, you're in luck, it's right through here." He led her to a clearing where a picnic blanket was spread along the ground.

"Oh, George! It's wonderful!" She turned to him and reached her hands up to the sides of his head. She pulled his face close to hers and her eyes fluttered shut. An inch of space remained between them and as George went to close the space, something large hit him.

Groaning, George pushed the pillow off of his face and sat up. It had been a dream. Of course. He rubbed his eyes and glared at Lee and Fred who were doubled over in laughter.

"Oh _Ivy_." mocked Fred.

"I _love_ you, Ivy." said Lee in a sing-song voice.

"This is _such_ a wonderful picnic." Fred swooned and lost his footing. He tumbled to the floor. Lee and George took one look at him and roared at the sight.

Fred propped himself up on his elbows and scowled at the two of them. "This is not funny."

"Oh, but Freddie, it is indeed."

"Bugger off."

"As lovely as this conversation is, we need to get going. It's Halloween, and there's mischief to be made." said Lee pointedly.

"Oh yeah, it's Hogsmeade day!" exclaimed George.

Halloween had crept up on the students quickly, and the school was buzzing in anticipation for the upcoming outing. George was of course excited at the prospect of spending time with Ivy. The two had grown extremely close that month, and when he wasn't planning a prank with Fred and Lee, he was studying or exploring with her.

The trio made their way to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast before they were to be dismissed from the castle. George slid into his usual seat in between Ivy and Fred and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Where do Maisie and Benjamin get to? I rarely see them in the mornings." said Ivy curiously as she looked up and down the long table.

Ingrid and Angelina giggled.

"They're snogging in an unused classroom on the fourth floor. I happened upon them earlier." said Alicia with a sly smile. Ivy looked at her blankly.

"Snogging?" she asked. George and Fred gaped at her. How could she not know what snogging was? She was fifteen, for crying out loud.

"Snogging. You know, passionate kissing." Lee raised an eyebrow her and Ivy blushed and bit her lip. George felt the urge to kiss her right there but he fought it.

"Oh, we call it making out in America. I really need to learn some British slang…" she trailed off.

She twirled a piece of hair in her fingers and George glanced around the Great Hall. Roger Davies was sizing her up, and he made his way over to the table.

"Ivy?" Roger stood behind her and she turned around and looked at him. "Could I ask you something?"

She nodded and stood; following the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain out of the hall. George felt his heart sink. Surely Roger was going to ask her to Hogsmeade, and he couldn't help but feel sadness wash over him slightly. She had told George that she would accompany him, Fred, Ingrid, and Angelina to the village, but there was no way she would turn down the popular and handsome sixth year. Fred looked at George and patted his shoulder sympathetically. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Cheer up, Georgie boy; I'm su-"He cut off when he saw that Ivy had returned. A brief silence ensued until Angelina spoke up from across the table.

"So Ivy, what did Roger want?"

"Oh, he asked me out."

"And?"

"I turned him down. I'd much rather go with you guys." Ivy glanced at George, which did not go unnoticed by Angelina. "And besides, He's an arrogant ass-hole." She returned to her meal, and Fred turned to George. He gave him a pointed look, and George turned slightly pink.

The group finished their meals and headed down the path to Hogsmeade after promising Alicia and Lee that they would meet up at the Three Broomsticks.

Fred, Angelina, and Ingrid all chattered excitedly, and did not notice that Ivy and George had fallen behind the group slightly.

"So _Ives_, where do you want to go today?" Ivy rolled her eyes at the silly nickname that George had christened her with.

"Well, I would like to see Honeydukes, and maybe stop by Dervish and Bangs – I need a new quill – and I want to stop by the pet store and pick up some treats for Agnes. What am I forgetting? Oh! Angelina wanted to go and check out some dress robes at this place called Fining's Robes. Why? Is there something you want to do?"

"Ah, just wanted to show you around the town as well. Maybe check out the Shrieking Shack if there's time?"

Ivy nodded at his suggestion. They were walking rather close and her fingers brushed his. A quick tingle ran up his arm and he looked at his hand in confusion. That had never happened before…

They stepped through the gates to Hogsmeade, and the small group made their way to Honeydukes. Ivy caught sight of professor Lupin and greeted him as he was making off with several packages of chocolate. Her hands tensed as she spoke with him, and George raised his eyebrow slightly. They made a few purchases and quickly exited the crowded shop and made several stops to the various wizarding supply stores that dotted the congested street.

The girls made their way to a brightly lit shop that advertised various muggle dresses and extravagant dress robes. Fred and George separated from the giggling girls, and ducked into Zonko's.

"I notice you and Ivy're acting awfully chummy." said Fred. He raised his eyebrow at Ron who was making his way out of the store—his bags suspiciously bulging with what looked like dung bombs – with an exasperated Hermione trailing behind him. Harry was nowhere to be seen, which didn't surprise George. Sirius Black was still on the loose, and those horrid muggles he lived with probably hadn't signed his Hogsmeade permission form.

"She doesn't like me Fred. We're just friends."

"For now." muttered Fred.

**II**

"IVY. YOU _HAVE _TO TRY THIS ON." Ingrid was frantically waving a long pink dress in Ivy's face.

"Why?"

"BECAUSE YOU'LL LOOK BLOODY AMAZING IN IT THAT'S WHY."

"But Ingrid, when am I ever going to wear something as fancy as that?"

Angelina chuckled at the arguing friends from her place in front of the mirror. Ivy turned around and looked at her exasperatedly.

"Ange, could you please make Ingrid stop?"

"Oh, try it on! It'll be fun!" said Angelina with a smirk.

"Christ, not you too! Well, seeing as how I have no say in the matter..." With a huff, Ivy snatched the dress and marched into the fitting room.

"Oh my god." Ivy's quiet voice carried over to where Angelina and Ingrid were waiting.

"What? What is it?" cried Angelina. There was a pause, then a collective gasp from the two girls as Ivy swept back the purple velvet curtain and stood for a moment.

"Ivy, you look absolutely amazing." gushed Ingrid.

"Wow." was all Angelina could manage. Ivy stepped out further into the store and reveled in the way the fabric skimmed over her hips. The neckline of the dust pink dress started at her shoulders and plunged into a modest v. It was so utterly flattering that she almost _glowed_ in it.

"Ivy. If you don't get it…" Angelina shook her head as she trailed off.

"How much is it?" asked Ivy slowly. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to afford such a nice dress. Ingrid got up and looked at the tag. A small smile crossed her face.

"Ivy, It's 10 galleons."

Her breath left her body quickly, and she didn't realize she had been holding it. 10 wasn't too bad.

She could do 10.

With a grin lighting up her face, she quickly changed and payed for the dress. It didn't matter that she didn't have anywhere to wear it. She had just felt so pretty. She didn't often feel pretty.

She was glad that the dress had provided such a nice distraction from what had happened earlier. Ivy remembered the cold sweat she had awoken in, and the strange dream she had had.

_A dark haired man and a pudgy man were arguing in a street. Ivy watched on in helpless horror as the short, chubby man blew up the street and killed countless muggles. The scene faded to darkness and a hoarse whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere said, 'THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER' over and over and over. A high and cruel laugh. A flash of light. Glimpses of random scenes and colors whirled around her—_

Then she woke up, and this wasn't the first cryptic dream she had experienced. Earlier in her childhood, she remembered her mother soothing her after having a haunting one about a man with a dark cloak and red eyes. Then one about a strangely glinting blood red stone trapped in an ornate mirror, and a man who turned to ash. The worst had been the nightmare about the snake. It featured a young girl with straight brown hair and glasses. She seemed to be crying, and she turned around to see a monstrous snake before dropping dead.

Ivy shivered and came to her senses. The three girls had stopped in front of a warm looking pub.

"This," said Angelina as she ushered the two girls in, "is the Three Broomsticks."

Ingrid rolled her eyes and said, "Ange, I've been here loads if times."

"That was mainly for Ivy's benefit." Ingrid stuck her tongue out at Angelina playfully and Ivy giggled. They made their way over to where the tall twins were seated, and Ivy plopped down across from George.

"What did you get?" he asked her curiously.

Ivy blushed a bit, then smirked, "If you're lucky, you'll get to see me in it someday."

"Fred, George, this dress that Ivy got…" Angelina trailed off with a mystified look on her face.

"I mean wow. I'm still speechless." Said Ingrid

"_Ivy…" _Fred pouted at her and batted his lashes, "I'm your best mate-"

"Oi! What am I then?" interjected George. Fred ignored him and continued his spiel.

"—therefore I get special privileges, including seeing this dress on you. So there."

"Fred, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait patiently like everyone else."

Fred had a look of mock hurt on his face. Ivy turned back to George. He passed her a bottle of butterbeer and she took it from him gratefully.

"I heard you say that you liked butterbeer…" he had a sheepish look on his face, and Ivy merely smiled at him.

"Thank you, George."

"You're welcome, Ivy."

**III**

George grabbed Ivy's hand and pulled her across the great hall to where Angelina and Fred were waiting. They dropped the sleeping bags they had been juggling in their arms onto the ground. The group quickly climbed into them and lay close together to whisper excitedly about what had just transpired.

"How, in the name of Merlin, did _Sirius Black_ get into _Hogwarts?"_ said Angelina from her spot beside Ivy.

All around them, people were asking one another the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," said a Ravenclaw a few feet away, "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth year. "He could've flown in," suggested a third year, Dean something.

"Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?" said Hermione crossly to Harry and Ron.

Ivy nudged George and nodded in their direction. The two watched the exchange with interest. That Hermione Granger must have a good idea.

"Probably," said Ron. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know," said Hermione. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in too. And Fitch knows all the secret passages, they'll have them covered..."

"The lights are going out now!" Fred and George's older brother Percy was storming around the great hall, obviously enjoying the privileges that went along with being Head Boy.

"I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

George was lying on his back when he turned to his twin. "_Fred!"_ he hissed.

"What?"

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that Sirius Black wouldn't have been an arse to his twin—if he had one—and would have let him sleep."

"Git."

"Prat."

"G'night"

Fred muttered something under his breath before losing consciousness. George glanced at Ivy and saw that she was asleep as well. Her hair was fanned out across her pillow, and she had a single brown lock strew across her face. The end fluttered with every steady breath she took, and with a sigh, George succumbed to sleep.

**IV**

After the Quidditch match that resulted in Harry's broom being destroyed by the Whomping Willow, Fred and George had an idea to cheer him up.

"Forge. I think we should give him the map."

"You really think so Gred? Don't you think we'll need it?"

"No, I think we'll be fine."

And so their plan was set in motion. On the next Hogsmeade weekend, Fred and George stayed behind (much to George's displeasure; Ivy had gone ahead with Maisie and Ingrid) and waited to ambush Harry near the statue that lead to Honeyduke's cellar. George finally spotted the famous tousled black hair and nudged Fred.

"Psst—Harry!"

Harry turned to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind the statue. He seemed genuinely confused and George couldn't help but smirk.

"What are you doing?" said Harry curiously. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here..."

He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Harry followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at Harry.

"Early Christmas present for you, Harry," he said.

Fred pulled the map from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. Harry stared at it.

"What's that supposed to be?"

"This, Harry, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.

"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" said Harry.

"A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him. "Explain, George."

"Well... when we were in our first year, Harry—young, carefree, and innocent—"

Harry snorted.

"Well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason—"

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual—"

"Detention, disembowelment, and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."

"Don't tell me—" said Harry, starting to grin.

"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed— this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"And you know how to work it?"

"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

"You're winding me up," said Harry.

"Oh, are we?" said George.

George took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched.

As Harry's eyes traveled up and down the familiar corridors, he seemed to have noticed something else.

The map, as George knew, showed a set of passages Harry would have never entered. And many of them led—

"Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four"—he pointed them out—"but we're sure we're the only ones who know about these. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in - completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."

"Moony, Wormtaill Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George fondly. "We owe them so much.

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

"Right," said George briskly. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.

"Just tap it again and say, 'Mischief managed!' And it'll go blank."

"So, young Harry," said Fred, in an uncanny impersonation of Percy, "mind you behave yourself."

"See you in Honeydukes," said George, winking.

They left the room, both smirking. George strode down to the front gate with Fred as Filch was checking the final students. They joined the queue for the village and turned to each other.

"We did good, Fred." said George.

"I reckon we have, George. Now, let's find that Ivy and see if we can learn some more American sayings."

With wicked grins, the two set off in search of the petite brunette.

* * *

**I wasn't sure about the "prophetic dream" thing. It might come into play later on if this fic gets darker.**

**I use the term ****_prophetic dream _****very loosely; i'm not positive I would classify them as that. **


	4. Prisoner of Azkaban, part 4

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or its many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books.**

Chapter 4

**I**

George glanced at the clock on his nightstand and sighed at the time.

Of course it was two in the morning; and the last day before his OWLs.

Perfect.

Knowing that he'd never be able to slip back into unconsciousness, he pulled on a t-shirt, silently padded past the slumbering forms of Fred and his dorm mates, and down to the common room.

The circular room appeared empty at first glance. The lights were dimmed and the crackling log, kept burning by house elves, threw interesting shapes and shadows onto the cold stone walls. George made his way to the cluster of seats near the fireplace. He heard a small sob and stiffened immediately. He crept slowly to an armchair that had had its back to him and peered over the back. He nearly did a double take when he saw who was huddled in the scarlet chair.

"Ivy?" She looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, and tears rolled down her cheeks in waves.

"G-George," she said in a hoarse whisper, "I didn't want anyone to see me like this."

He knelt down beside her and gently brushed the water off of her face with his thumbs. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and leaned into his hands; shuddering and breathing deeply while he dried her tears.

"Shh, It's all right, love. You're fine. You're safe." He pulled her into a tight embrace and murmured comforting words into her ear. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder as she sobbed. He ran his hands up and down her back in an attempt to calm her weeping. She pulled away after a moment and they gazed at each other, blue eyes lost in brown.

"Thank you, George." She whispered.

"Don't mention it. I'd do anything for you." He blushed when he realized what he had said. She gave him a watery smile and sniffed a little. "D'you want to tell me about it?"

She hesitated and then nodded. George lifted her from the armchair and carried her over to the loveseat close to the fire. He set her down and sat beside her. She leaned her head against him.

"I had a dream," she paused and shifted a little so that they could see each other's faces. Her brown eyes were wide with fear and uncertainty, and he tucked an unruly curl behind her ear. She bit her lip and grabbed his hand.

"It was terrible," she said quietly, "there was this rotting old house that creaked and groaned, and a man—he, he said _strange_ things, terrible things—and he was being confronted by another man. There was so much yelling, so much noise and darkness. The whole thing was blurry and—and eerie." She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. George furrowed his eyebrow. She looked almost exasperated for a moment.

"Ivy, how many of these nightmares have you had?"

"… a lot. Since I was a little girl."

George blinked. "Merlin, Ivy! Are you alright?"

She nodded and bit her lip again. "I am now that you're here…"

George's eyes widened almost comically and he turned to look at Ivy quickly. She worried her lip and looked at her lap, refusing to meet his gaze. He placed his hand gently under her chin and guided her face near his. His eyes bore into her puffy ones, searching for something. He noticed small flecks of black and amber in her jewel-like irises and it only made her even more irresistible. Her eyelids fluttered shut; giving him all the conformation he needed.

Slowly, he pressed his lips to hers in a sweet and chaste kiss. Her lips were warm and molded to George's perfectly. A swooping feeling entered his stomach and his ears grew warm.

Reluctantly, they pulled apart and Ivy blushed. "I love that color on you." He said with a smirk as he brushed a finger across her inflamed cheek.

She smiled at him then settled back into the couch beside George, leaning her head against his chest. He cradled her against him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. They twined their fingers together and she took a deep, peaceful breath.

He heard steady breathing and realized, with a grin, that she had fallen asleep on top of him. He didn't have the heart to move her, so he lay back as gently as he could and shut his eyes; sleep finding him within moments.

**II**

Ivy heard a noise and she frowned. With a sigh she snuggled into her incredibly comfortable pillow and tried to drown out the annoying sound she had heard.

"_Ivy,"_

There it was again.

Scowling, she opened her eyes and blinked in confusion at her unfamiliar surroundings. She sat up and rubbed her face with her hands.

Oh. Last night.

LAST NIGHT.

Ivy pulled her head up and looked back at where she had been lying only moments before. Her pillow hadn't been a pillow after all.

"You couldn't have let me sleep for another few minutes? It's 6 in the morning!" she said with a bleary pout to George.

He sat up and ran a hand through his ginger locks that were messy from sleep and yawned.

"No I couldn't have. We have O. to take tomorrow, and I daresay you want to study up a bit more?"

"I'm guessing you want some help with transfiguration before Fred kidnaps me to study with. _Again_." George chuckled and stood up with a stretch. He pulled Ivy to her feet quickly and leaned down for a small peck on her lips.

With a goofy grin, Ivy waved to him and raced up to her dorm to freshen up.

She ducked into the room and closed the door as she slid down it. She giggled girlishly and Angelina poked her head out of the bathroom with a toothbrush between her teeth.

"Whud?" She mumbled with a mouth full of toothpaste.

Ivy just shook her head and grinned. Angelina rolled her eyes and quickly finished brushing her teeth before plopping down onto the ground beside Ivy.

"What is it?"

Ivy smiled and out her head between her knees. She took a few calming breaths before looking up at Angelina.

"He kissed me."

"Who, George?" asked Angelina.

"Mhm." nodded Ivy with a sigh.

"OH MY GOD!" Ivy raised her eyebrow at Angelina and the two of them turned towards Ingrid's bed where the girl was sitting up and bouncing. Ivy giggled at her friend. She recounted the kiss; omitting the reason she had been in the common room in the first place. _  
_

"That is so sweet," sighed Ingrid. Ivy nodded and stood up.

"If you two don't mind, I'm going to take a shower." She sauntered into the bathroom with a small smile on her face.

oOo

"Ivy, over here!" Ivy saw George beckoning to her from across the Great Hall and she slipped into the seat beside him. He grabbed her hand and Fred raised his eyebrow at them from across the table.

"Er, Ivy, I—I was wondering—"

"Get on with it!" interrupted Fred. George glared at him and turned back to Ivy. He looked incredibly nervous and she stroked the back of his thumb reassuringly with her thumb.

"Ivy, would you like to, er, go out sometime?" he turned slightly pink and Ivy grinned.

"Hmm, I dunno. I'll have to think about it…" Her smile only got wider when she saw the confused look on his face. She giggled and quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I'd love too."

Fred snickered at the whole exchange and Ivy shot him a dirty look.

"Shut it you."

"I didn't say anything!"

"Alright," said Ivy, "but if you get on my bad side, I won't help you review for your transfiguration exam."

"I'm _shocked,_ Miss Miller; Nay, I'm appalled that you would suggest such a thing. Me? Get on someone's bad side?" He scoffed and stuck his nose in the air snootily.

Ivy stared at him trying to keep her face straight. After a few moments, her lips quirked and her nose wrinkled and she collapsed onto the table in a fit of silent giggles. Fred and George watched her and began to chuckle. Her shoulders were shaking from laughter and when she sat up her eyes were streaming. She wiped them away and continued to laugh until a snort escaped her. The twins immediately raised their eyebrows at the ridiculous sound and joined into her laughter.

She clutched her side and tried to calm herself. She could feel that her face was flushed as she nibbled on a piece of toast. Fred was explaining some scheme to George when a regal brown owl swooped down from the rafters with a small roll of parchment in its grasps.

"Agnes! What's that you've got there?" Agnes dropped the message on her plate and looked at her expectantly. George handed the owl a piece of bacon and she took it gratefully before taking off from the table. Ivy picked up the paper that her owl had left her.

_Miss Miller,_

_Please report to my office after breakfast at 10:00. _

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I have to say, Peppermint Toads are wonderful sweets_

"Who's that from?" asked George curiously

"Dumbledore," said Ivy. Fred choked on his tea and George made a strange sounding squeak from beside her. She raised her eyebrows at them and checked her watch.

"Merlin, it's almost 10! I'll meet you two in the common room later!" she left the table in a hurry and passed Angelina who was slipping into her recently vacated seat. She rushed up the stairs and skidded to a stop in front of the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

She hesitated for a moment before tentatively calling out "Peppermint Toads". The gargoyle leapt aside and allowed Ivy to climb the spiral stairs. Once she reached the top, she knocked on the door and entered when she heard a calm voice calling to her.

"Ah, Miss Miller, please have a seat!" Dumbledore gestured to a seat across from his desk. Ivy sat down and eyed him apprehensively.

"I'm sure you're wondering what this is about; as you know, the school year is coming to a close." She nodded and he continued. "I want you to know that it has been a pleasure having you join the students this year. I was hoping that you might want to be enrolled fully with us and continue your studies here next year."

Ivy's mouth fell open and her eyes widened in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"I am. I have already owled your parents and they have given their consent for you to attend, if you so wish. It's up to you at this point." He smiled at her and his eyes twinkle merrily from behind his half- moon glasses.

"I," She hesitated and took a calming breath. She had loved her year here; more so than any of her previous 4 years spent at Salem. "I would love to professor."

"Delightful! Next year's term begins on September 1st." Ivy got up at this cue to leave and made her way to the door.

"Oh and Miss Miller?" She turned around and saw him regarding her with an amused look. "Good luck on your exams tomorrow." She smiled and left for the common room, bursting with her news.

**III**

George and Fred were poring over some texts in an attempt to cram in last minute studying for their owls. The majority of the fifth and seventh years could be seen holed up in the common room; studying for their upcoming exams and the silence that engulfed the room was uncommon and broken only by the occasional sniff, the scratching of a quill, and the rustle of parchment. A brunette blur made George glance up from his heavy tome. A smirk melted onto his face as he saw Ivy hop onto a squashy chair across from him. Her face was unusually passive, but her eyes danced merrily.

"Hey." She whispered. Fred looked up from the potions notes he had "borrowed" from Hermione and furrowed his brow at Ivy.

"Yeah?" George whispered back. Several people glared at them and Ivy ignored them.

"What did Dumbledore want?" asked Fred curiously.

"Shhh!" George rolled his eyes at the seventh years that were scowling in their direction as Ivy pulled the two of them to their feet. She led them out of the portrait hole and into the corridor.

"What is it?" asked George.

"Oh, Dumbledore just wanted to let me know that all of my exam grades would be transferred to Salem next year…"

"Salem! Merlin, I forgot that you're an exchange student—wait does that mean that you're not staying?"

George felt a pang and he furrowed his brow. She wasn't staying? He studied her for a moment in shock and confusion as she grinned and shook her head.

"I'm only messing with you two because you make it so easy. He invited me to finish up my studies here for the next two years."

"And?" prompted Fred.

"Looks like you two are stuck with me."

"Brilliant!" shouted George. He swept her up in his arms and twirled her around. She giggled a little when George set her down. Her expressive cinnamon eyes were wide and happy and he bent his head down and peppered her cheeks and forehead with quick, playful kisses before pressing his lips to hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she lifted up onto her toes to reach him better. Their kiss deepened as George ran his tongue across her bottom lip to gain entrance to her mouth. She obliged and his fingers burrowed into her rich brown curls. Warmth was filling up every part of him and he couldn't get enough of the small brunette. Time melted away and it was only the two of them together. His other hand slipped to her waist and he pulled her closer to him. She leaned against his chest and sighed contently into his mouth.

A small cough stunned them out of their private moment and he reluctantly turned away from Ivy and to Fred. His twin's eyebrow was raised and a small smirk was on his lips. George glanced at Ivy and saw her face was beet red.

"As fun as this has been, we do need to get _some_ studying done." He walked towards the common room and George rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because you can do so much studying in one day." He untangled himself from Ivy and laced his fingers through her hand in a familiar way. It felt right to him and Ivy smiled and hummed as they climbed through the portrait hole together.

oOo

"As lovely as those exams were, I think we both deserve a long awaited break." said George cheerfully as he walked out of the _History of Magic_ exam with Ivy. She smiled in relief and nodded.

"If I have to answer one more question about freaking goblin rebellions from who knows when, I think I'll pull my hair out."

"And that would be such a shame m'dear, seeing as how your hair is so very lovely." Ivy blushed and played with a rogue curl. George grinned at her and pulled her against him as they strolled out over the grounds.

Fifth years continued to spill out of the castle behind them; eager to escape their final tests. The air was damp from a recent rain and the ground squelched beneath them. The noon sun was high and dried up excess water out of the courtyards and crevices of Hogwarts slowly. A gentle buzz of insects reminded everyone of the approaching summer and the freedom from school. George led Ivy to a secluded spot on the grounds and pulled a blanket out of his school bag to lie on the wet ground. Ivy's eyes sparkled with mirth and she bit her lip when he pulled a thermos and sandwiches out of the bag as well.

"A picnic, George?"

"Well there's not another Hogsmeade weekend for the rest of the year, and we never got a chance to go on a date so I figured that now was as good as a time as any." He said defensively.

She nodded and giggled. "It's just _so_ cheesy!"

George scowled and set down the food. "You'll pay for that!"

"Oh really?" she said with a mocking tone.

"Yes." He tackled her gently and pinned her down. She looked surprised and George grinned mischievously. His fingers ran up and down her sides and ribcage. She gasped and began to laugh.

"S-stop it G-George! Y-you know I-I-I'm ticklish!"

"That is precisely why I have so much leverage over you darling Ivy!" He cackled evilly. Suddenly Ivy went silent and he stopped his merciless assault on her.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. Without notice, Ivy twisted from under him and suddenly she was straddling him with a wild look in her eyes and a victorious smile.

"The tables have turned George," she said in a solemn voice, "you have one chance to surrender."

"Never!" he cried as he squirmed from underneath her.

"On your head!" she said, and with a silly battle cry she began to tickle him. He untangled his hands from his sides and tickled her back.

He loved her laughter, it was one of the most amazing sounds he had ever heard, and he drank in the sight of her with her head thrown back in joy. A wide smile graced her delicate features and dappled green light speckled her face. He had never met anyone so pretty. He fell back onto the blanket and tried to catch his breath. He inhaled a deep lungful of air and puffed the air out in a happy sigh. Beside him, Ivy was leaning back on her arms with her eyes closed. She seemed to be basking in the filtered sunlight and he shifted to his side as he watched her.

"Merlin, you're beautiful." He said quietly. Ivy opened her eyes up and her cheeks flushed immediately. She sat up quickly and looked at George with a strange expression.

"What?" he asked her apprehensively.

"It's- it's just that no one's really ever told me that I was beautiful." George cocked his head in confusion when an amused smile slunk onto her face.

"Except for my parents, but they don't really count do they?"

George chuckled and she turned her face to him. "Well it's true. You should listen to them."

She shook her head good naturedly and George snatched up the thermos that rested on the ground between them.

"Juice, m'lady?"

"But of course, m'lord!" she said with a giggle. He poured her a small glass and she looked at it warily. George rolled his eyes.

"D'you honestly think that I'm so stupid that I'd to put something in your drink on our first date?"

"Hey, I have good reason to be suspicious! I saw what you did to your brother's tea last week for a prank."

George waved his hand dismissively and smirked. "Percy's a prat. He deserved it."

"Fine, I'll drink it." She took a tentative sip and waited for a moment. When nothing had happened she smiled and took a deeper swig.

The two of them fell into easy conversation and, after finishing some of the sandwiches, now lay comfortably on the half-dried ground. Ivy was curled against George's Quidditch toned chest and he had his arms around her. He ran his fingers up and down her soft shoulder and she hummed a familiar tune softly.

"What are you humming?" he asked her.

Her eyes were closed and she smiled. "'You Are My Sunshine'," George nodded and brushed a hand into her hair. "It's such a nice song…" She sighed and burrowed her face into his shirt.

"_You are my sunshine,_" Ivy opened her eyes and looked up at George with amusement. "_My only sunshine," _

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"_You make me happy, when skies are grey,"_ George continued, nonplussed. "_You never know dear,"_

"_How much I love you." _sang Ivy in a silvery alto. George beamed as he glanced at her. A playful twinkle lit her eyes and she traced random patterns on his inner arm.

"_Please don't take my sunshine away…"_ George sang along with Ivy and continued to play with her hair as she laughed quietly.

"You have a nice voice, George." she said.

"As do you, my Sunshine." Her eyes widened with happiness and she grabbed George's hand and quickly extracted it from her mess of loose curls.

She pulled him with her as she sat up and tenderly kissed him. George immediately let his hands fall to her waist and she set her arms comfortably on his shoulders. Their embrace was sweet and innocent and, like a few days before, they were fully encompassed in each other. She brushed her fingers along the nape of his neck and sighed into his mouth. Her nose bumped his awkwardly and she giggled against his lips. George moaned quietly and Ivy gasped as his teeth grazed her bottom lip gently. His tongue explored her mouth tentatively, and small shivers ran up his spine as she pulled away panting.

"George, you're going to kill me someday." She said as she fell back onto the gingham blanket. Her lips were pink and slightly swollen and the rise and fall of her chest seemed to follow a beat.

He smirked and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Not that that wasn't bloody amazing, but what did I do?"

"Oh," she blushed, "you called me your Sunshine."

"You like it?" he asked her.

She nodded and George smiled at her. "I'm glad." he said.

**IV**

"Hey Ivy, this compartment looks empty." Ivy stuck her head into the compartment as George held the door open for her.

"Yeah, this one is good!" She scurried into the room and plopped onto the green fabric bench.

"Freddie! We've got one here!" hollered George down the hallway. Ivy rolled her eyes and could hear a reply shouted. She moved over a little for George when he finally made his way in and shut the door behind him. Not moments later, Fred, Lee, Alicia, Angelina, and Ingrid all filed into the surprisingly roomy area.

_Must be magic._ decided Ivy with a small giggle. Ingrid sat down on the other side of George and grabbed a muggle fashion magazine out of her small knapsack.

"Why aren't the people moving Ingrid?" asked George curiously.

"Because this is a muggle magazine. It isn't charmed to move." She explained robotically, as if she had been asked that exact same question countless times. Across from her, Alicia shook her head and Lee grinned.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" said Fred as he pulled out a small deck of cards. Everyone agreed and several jarring rounds later, they had quickly bored of the game.

"So, Ivy, are you going to go visit your parents for the summer before coming back to Hogwarts?" asked Angelina after a moment.

"Mhmm. I'm flooing to the U.S. through the international floo port and I'm going to spend some time in Vermont with my family. Not anything too eventful…"

"Ooh, that sounds like so much fun! I've always wanted to visit the States!" gushed Ingrid, "Much more sunny and cheerful than dreary old Britain I bet."

"Yeah, it's something." murmured Ivy as she watched the Scottish landscape rush by in a green blur. Something had been nagging at her mind about the place. She had felt, _different_, here—at Hogwarts. A warm feeling filled her up when she thought about the gigantic castle.

It was home.

In the short time she had spent there, with the people, the landscape, everything; it had become much more of a home to her than her comfortable lake house and old school. Of course, she loved her parents, but she never felt right in Vermont. Or Massachusetts. Or anywhere else—except here.

She glanced at George and couldn't help but smile. George was amazing. Every time he looked at her, she _felt_ beautiful. Every whispered word, every brush against her skin, every stolen moment was a gift. He still didn't understand how much he meant to her, how much everything he had done was helping her heal from wounds that could never fully close.

She had faced mild bullying during her childhood; although what else could you expect. She had been a very awkward growing up what with and the occasional spout of accidental magic, unfortunate hair styles, unflattering glasses, and terribly crooked teeth…

In other words: she had been easy prey.

Sure, puberty struck and _wham,_ she blossomed; shedding her glasses, growing out her hair and gaining supple curves where flat planes used to be.

And thank Merlin her teeth had been fixed with a quick spell from the dental specialists at the wizarding hospital in Vermont, but the pain of taunting words never really left her.

Suddenly remembering something, she stood up and pulled a camera out of her bag.

"Ingrid, would you take a picture of me and George?"

"Sure!" Ingrid hopped up and Ivy inched closer to George. He put his arm around her and Ingrid focused the lens for a moment before pressing the shutter. A purple puff of smoke and a bright light filled the room as an image was popped out of the clunky camera. Ingrid plucked it out of the slot and handed it to Ivy. She and George inspected it and grinned when they saw the scene that replayed.

Ivy and George were sitting together as they had earlier. He hugged her to his body and his hand ruffled her hair playfully. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head and she smiled happily and leaned into him.

The charmed picture replayed and Ivy tucked it into her bag along with her camera. She settled back against George and he put his arm around her again and held her tightly. She hugged him back and leaned her head into his chest. She nodded off slowly as the train chugged toward its final destination.

oOo

Ivy laced her fingers with George and followed him across the platform in King's Cross station to where an older witch and wizard stood. Both had fiery red hair, and kind smiles on their faces.

"Oh, George! How are you sweetheart? And you Fred?" the woman smiled brightly at the twins and flicked her eyes to Ivy, then to her and George's entwined hands. Her eyes lit up and she turned questioning eyes to George. Ivy smiled at her and the tips of George's ears turned pink.

"Oh, I'm fine mum. Er, this is Ivy. Ivy, this is my mum."

"Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Weasley." Ivy extended her hand, but it was quickly waved away by Mrs. Weasley.

"No, no dear; you should know that in this family we give hugs." she immediately pulled Ivy into a motherly squeeze and patted her back. "So, you and George?"

Ivy nodded and glanced at George. His face was pink and he was looking at the ground sheepishly. Ivy grinned and pulled him down closer to her. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and giggled when he tickled her lightly. Mrs. Weasley looked like she was about to burst from happiness. She turned back to the man who could only be Mr. Weasley and greeted Harry when he wheeled his trolley up to them.

Ivy turned to George, and stretched up to give him a tight hug. He leaned down and buried his face in her hair.

"Owl me, yeah?" whispered George.

"Of course." she said quietly. They pulled apart and George joined the rest of his family as they exited the station.

Ivy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She tugged on a curl and pushed her cart to the curb outside. She hailed a taxi and loaded her heavy trunk into it. She set Agnes's cage on her lap in the backseat.

"Where ye headed?" grunted the driver.

"The airport, please."

"Luton or Heathrow?"

"Uh, Luton."

"'Right." He pulled away from the station, and Ivy settled into the worn leather seat. She leaned her head back and watched the city traffic pass by. The movement of big cities had always enthralled her, and she loved the vibrancy that accompanied the people and things in the twisting concrete jungles she had only seen a few times.

The yellow cab pulled into the airport and Ivy paid him before she entered the large building. She rolled her trunk behind her and held Agnes's cage underneath her arm as she meandered over to an empty and battered vending machine in a dark corner. She leaned against the smudged front of it and immediately fell through. Emerging on the other side, she lugged her case up to a bored looking witch in a navy blue uniform.

"Welcome to the Luton International floo port. What is your destination?"

"The Burlington International floo port, Vermont."

"Alright. That will be 5 galleons. Please allow me to resize your luggage." She waved her wand over Ivy's school trunk. It shrunk to the size of a matchbox, and Ivy picked it up and put it in her pocket. "You will have to hold onto your owl. Please step up to the floo terminal."

Ivy wrapped her arms around the cage and stepped into the dancing green flames. "Burlington, Vermont!" cried the witch, and before Ivy knew it, she was spinning. She shut her eyes and waited for the swirling to stop. She toppled out of the grate and onto the ground at the feet of the attendant.

"Are you okay?" Ivy nodded. The man smiled at her.

"Welcome to Burlington, Vermont. Is this your destination?" Ivy nodded again and he continued to speak. "Do you have any luggage that was resized?"

"Yes," said Ivy as she pulled out her shrunken trunk. She set it on the ground and he flicked his wand at it. It grew back to its normal size and Ivy grabbed the handle and thanked the man. She exited the magical area and was immediately tackled by a skinny, blonde blur.

"IVY!" Ivy chuckled and hugged her friend back.

"Hello Maggie!"

"Don't hello Maggie me! I haven't seen you in eight months! Patrick and I missed you so much! How have you been? How was Hogwarts? Ooh, Colleen was so jealous when she heard that you were chosen to go! Did you make any friends? How was the food? How were the—"

"Maggie! Calm down! I'll tell you everything later. Where are my parents, by the way?"

"Right here princess." said a voice from behind her.

"Mom! Dad!" Ivy turned around and threw herself at the two figures behind her.

She appraised her parents after releasing them. Her mother's dark brown hair was cropped short and hung just below her ears. Her brown eyes were glistening with happy tears and a smile was surfacing on her face. The beginnings of small wrinkles were appearing in the corners of her eyes and stylish glasses were perched on the bridge of her nose. She hugged her again and turned to her father.

His sandy hair was thinning and neatly trimmed facial hair lay on his face. He beamed at Ivy and she hugged him again.

"So, tell me more about Hogwarts." said her mother as they were making their way to the apparition point.

"Yes! Tell me everything!" exclaimed Maggie.

"You wouldn't believe how amazing everything there is." said Ivy.

"Oh I can only imagine," moaned Maggie dramatically. "And, here I've been, stuck at Salem with only Colleen for company while you've been in England doing who knows what."

Ivy giggled and Maggie shoved her playfully. "Alright, I'll tell you about everything."

"You better."

"Girls, let's go." said her father with a smile. Ivy grabbed a hold of her trunk and his arm, while Maggie held onto her mother and Agnes. The adults spun and immediately Ivy felt like she was being shoved through a tube. But quickly as the sensation had come, it disappeared. The group was now standing in front of a house that overlooked a glittering lake.

oOo

Ivy pulled a stack of photographs out of her bag and dropped them onto her bed beside Maggie.

"Ooh pictures!" Maggie grabbed them and grinned at the group photo that Ivy had taken. She sat beside her excited friend and described everyone in the photo.

"Over there on the left, that's Benjamin and his girlfriend Maisie. They're the prefects in our year. That tall girl beside me is Ingrid, and that's Angelina, Alicia, and Lee." pointed out Ivy.

"Who're the twins?" asked Maggie with a smirk.

"That's Fred beside Angelina, and George is the one beside me."

"_Ivy,_" moaned Maggie dramatically, "why didn't you tell me that you're friends with such cute boys?"

Ivy rolled her eyes and flicked through her photos until she got to the one she had been looking for. She smirked and held out the photo. "Maggie, do you recognize anyone in this photo."

"No, why should—"Maggie widened her eyes and snatched the photo out of Ivy's hands, "YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH HARRY FREAKING POTTER?!" she shrieked.

Ivy collapsed on the floor in giggles and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Oh Merlin you should have seen your face. Priceless." She wheezed. Maggie pouted and stuck her tongue out.

"I still can't believe that you never told me, Maggie Butler, (otherwise known as your best friend) that you're friends with Harry Potter!"

"Well, we're more acquaintances than friends seeing as how I'm dating his best friend's brother."

"Wait WHAT?!" exclaimed Maggie, "Hold on, you're dating _who_?"

Ivy grinned and shook her head. She rummaged through her photos and pulled out two. One was of George and her after his last Quidditch match of the season, and the other was the one from the train that Ingrid had taken. Maggie smiled at the picture of them on the Hogwarts Express, but gaped at the Quidditch photo.

"Oh god, he's a Quidditch player too? What position?" asked Maggie.

"Beater," Maggie groaned and buried her face in a large pillow.

"Beaters have the greatest arms. Does he have nice arms Ivy?"

"Maggie," said Ivy solemnly, "George has _fantastic _arms."

The two girls stared at each other for a moment before falling into two heaps on the bed. Ivy clutched her side as she laughed and Maggie bit her knuckles. They calmed down and just lay in companionable silence.

"I've really missed you Ivy." said Maggie, breaking the quiet.

"I've missed you too." Ivy sat up and frowned for a moment. "Maggie?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something."

"What?" asked Maggie apprehensively.

"I'm-I'm not coming back to Salem." Maggie sighed and smiled sadly at her.

"I figured. You looked so happy when you were talking about Hogwarts. Much happier than I have seen you in a long time. Just remember to write me when you go back, alright?"

"Oh Maggie, of course I will!" cried Ivy. She threw her arms around her willowy friend and held her in a tight grip.

"Okay, you can let me go now…" chuckled Maggie. Ivy pulled away and grinned. Suddenly there was a thud against her window.

"What the—" said Maggie as she got up from Ivy's bed. She made her way to the window and opened it. A tiny brown owl shot into the room and flapped excitedly around her ceiling.

"Hey! Come here you!" said Ivy. The owl tittered and flew sheepishly to her desk. "Where did you come from?" The owl held out its leg to which a letter had been tied. Ivy pulled it off and gave the owl a couple of treats. Maggie looked over Ivy's shoulder as she opened the letter and read its contents.

_Dear Ivy,_

_I don't know when you're going to get this letter, but I sent it as soon as I got home. I wanted to tell you that my dad's trying to get a hold of some tickets for the Quidditch World Cup next month. If you're interested in going with me and my family, I can see if he can get another ticket for you. He's already trying to get two more for Harry and Hermione, and it would mean a lot to me if you could come with us. Let me know what you think, ASAP._

_I already miss you so much, my Sunshine. My mum found a picture of us in my bag, and she won't stop asking me about you. (Don't worry, I'm telling her good things—mostly) I __had__ to send this to you. Trust me, you'll get a kick out of it._

_I can't wait to hear from you._

_George_

_P.S. Fred says hi._

Ivy peered into the envelope and saw the photo he had been talking about. She pulled it out and smiled when she recognized the scene. It had been mid January, and a thick layer of snow blanketed the grounds. Ivy and George and Fred were building a snowman and you could see Ivy and George glance at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Fred snuck up behind Ivy and pushed her into the snowman they had been working on for most of the morning. A snowball fight quickly ensued; the whole thing had been hilarious.

Maggie grinned at Ivy and began dancing around the room and singing a silly song.

Ivy rolled her eyes at her friend and sat down at her desk to write her response to the letter.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Well that's it for chapter 4! I hope it's moving at a decent pace. I have more plans for coming chapters, and they needed to be in a relationship by then. **

**please R&R! I appreciate anything you have to say! **


	5. Goblet of Fire, part 1

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or its many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue and descriptions directly from the books.**

Chapter 5

**I**

George paced his sitting room nervously. Ivy was due to arrive at the Burrow in just moments, and it had been close to a month since he'd last seen her. She would be staying with the Weasleys for the remainder of the summer, and he couldn't wait to spend some extra time with her.

"George, calm down." Charlie leaned in the doorway and watched his progress across the room.

"Ah, don't mind George. He just wants to see Ivy." teased Fred as he ducked under Charlie's arm and entered the room.

George opened his mouth to make a retort, but was cut off by a flash of green that filled the comfortable living room.

"Ivy!" cried George as a brunette tumbled out of the fireplace and onto the soot covered rug. He grinned at her and helped her up. She dusted off her jeans and threw her arms around him. He eagerly returned the tight embrace and pulled her close to him.

Charlie coughed awkwardly from behind George and he reluctantly dropped his arms from around his girlfriend. He grasped her hand and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Charlie, this is Ivy. Ivy, meet Charlie." Ivy smiled at Charlie and he nodded to her before smirking.

"So, you're the famous Ivy Miller?"

"That's me," she said.

"Ivy, I haven't seen you in _weeks_. Do I get a hug or not?" teased Fred from behind her.

She rolled her eyes and gave him a quick hug. "There. Better?"

George and Charlie chuckled and George held out his arm to her. "Would you like a grand tour?"

"I would love one." She said as she took his arm. He led her up the stairs and pointed out the individual bedrooms to her.

"That's Charlie's room, and Bill's room is right in here across from Percy's. This is Ginny's—you'll be sharing with her and Hermione—and _this,"_ he opened a door right down the hall from Ginny's room and gestured grandly, "is the most important room in this house."

Ivy stepped into the room with him and glanced around at his simple and battered furniture. Two scuffed desks were pushed together, and a bubbling cauldron sat on top of them. Two messy beds with matching quilts were beside each other with a single table between them. The floor was covered with clothing and little odds and ends. An empty vial here, a jar of potion ingredients there, tattered textbooks were used as makeshift props and tables. Scorch marks marred the walls and ceiling and a pile of quidditch gear was shoved into a corner. George glanced at Ivy's face and tried to gauge her reactions. She turned to him and smiled.

"I like it." she said, and he grinned and pulled her over to the cauldron.

"What are you two up to?" she asked curiously. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a brightly wrapped candy. She reached for it, but he held it over her head where she couldn't grab it. She pouted and he pressed a kiss to her forehead and shook his head amusedly.

"Ivy, you don't want this candy."

"Why not?"

"Because dear," he said, "_this_, is a ton-tongue toffee. A new prank item that Fred and I developed—"

"Oh! For Weasley's Wizard Wheezes you mean?"

"Precisely."

"What does it do then?"

"It makes your tongue grow absolutely massive. The charm reverses when you hit 3 feet."

"That's brilliant!" she exclaimed. "Have you tried it out on anybody yet?"

George grinned and winked at her. "We're going to slip it to Harry's muggle cousin next week when we go to pick him up."

Ivy snorted and leaned against George.

"Hi Ivy!" Ginny greeted her as she made her way into the room.

"Ginny!" exclaimed Ivy with a bright grin. "I'm told we're bunking for the next few weeks?"

Ginny nodded at the older girl and turned to George. "Mum says that lunch is ready."

George ruffled her hair and followed her and Ivy to the kitchen as they chattered excitedly about the upcoming quidditch match and their other plans for summer.

He pulled out a chair for Ivy, and she sat down with a "thank you". His mother beamed at him, and he felt his ears grow warm; as they always did when he was embarrassed.

oOo

The Burrow at night reflected its inhabitants as they lay in peaceful slumber. The house was silent, save for the occasional snore or sneeze, and especially at the late hour of the night.

Tonight was different, however, for the silence was broken by a scream.

George flipped out of bed and landed on his back with a yelp. In the other bed, Fred was sitting up tiredly. Terrified shrieking continued to rip through the air harshly, and George stumbled to his feet and opened the door. He hurried to Ginny's room where he could hear his sister speaking in urgent tones, and the rustle of sheets and whimpering and moaning. He pushed open the door and Ginny glanced up at him, her face pale. She was kneeling beside Ivy's bed and was still shaking her and trying to get her to wake up. He quickly took her place and Ginny moved behind him. He took a hold of Ivy's clammy hand and brushed her hair with his fingers softly. Tears glistened underneath her lashes and she was breathing uneven, staggered breaths. She shook her head from side to side and struggled against him. He gathered her up in his arms and sat on the bed, cradling her against him. He murmured in her ear and rocked her back and forth gently.

"Ivy—Sunshine—wake up. Love, please, it's only a dream. Wake up, Ivy."

She stilled her movement, before relaxing in his arms. George looked down at her and saw that she was looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes, and was clutching his shirt in a death-grip. He held her tightly and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. Her breathing returned to a somewhat normal pace, and he set her down beside him. Grabbing a hold of her hand and, nodding once to a worried Ginny, he led her out of the room and to the stairs. Fred had been the only other person awoken by her nightmare and now stood in the door to his room. He raised a questioning eyebrow to George, who only pressed his lips together and shook his head once. Fred retreated back to his warm bed. George helped Ivy down the stairs and into a chair at the kitchen table before he started puttering about; fixing two cups of cocoa, he sat across from his girlfriend.

"Ivy?" she circled her finger around the rim of the mug and refused to meet his gaze.

"Ivy, look at me," she glanced up at him and hiccupped. He gave her a small smile and she blushed and tucked a lock of tousled hair behind her ear. "D'you want to talk about it?"

She moved her hands to her face and shuddered. George leaned across the table and gently pried her fingers away from her.

"I- I don't want to lay my nightmares all over you George. They can be… disturbing."

"I don't mind." Her glittery brown eyes met his deep blue ones. She swallowed thickly, and took a sip of her hot chocolate. She smiled and closed her eyes as she set down the mug.

"You make good cocoa."

"My mum taught me," he said with a smile.

"I knew I was dating you for a good reason," she teased weakly.

"Ivy, you're getting off topic." he said. She inhaled and leaned back in her chair.

"I was running in the dark, and there was this screaming all around me, just, utter _panic_ and-and fear. I tripped and hurt my ankle, so I was just stuck there in the woods, and," she sniffed wiped her hand across her cheek to catch a falling tear. "And this pulsing green light slithered into the sky and made this symbol. I-." her breath caught and she shuddered. "It felt so real."

"Ivy," George got up from his seat and pulled her up and into a tight hug. Her face was buried in his chest and he ran his hands through her hair. "It was just a dream, alright?" she nodded against his chest and he carried her into the sitting room. He settled back against the sofa with her and drifted back to sleep.

oOo

"OH MY GOD!"

George looked up from his breakfast and shared a look with his twin.

"FRED WEASLEY, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."

Across from him, Fred looked horrified and cringed when a green-haired Ivy stormed down the stairs. The kitchen full of Weasleys and Hermione, who had arrived a few days ago, grew quiet as they watched the spectacle with amusement.

"Oh Merlin, that was a mistake," mumbled Fred as his eyes grew as wide as saucers. George snickered to himself, but grew slightly alarmed at her reaction. He loved pranks and jokes; would she try to put a stop to it all?

Ivy came to a stop in front of Fred and jabbed a finger into his chest.

"I cannot BELIEVE you turned my hair GREEN!"

"I'm not Fred, I'm George!"

"Fred, don't even try. You know I've been able to tell the two of you apart since I've met you. I'd like to think I can tell the difference between my boyfriend and his brother." She snarled.

Fred glanced at George apologetically and looked back to Ivy with a feeble attempt at a grin while she glared at him. Her lips twitched and she snorted.

"You should have seen your face, Freddie!" The kitchen looked at her with confusion as she doubled over with laughter.

"You're not mad at him?" Ginny asked her with a knowing smile.

"How could I be mad? This is brilliant!" she lifted a lock of lime colored hair and giggled at it. She screwed up her lips and tapped her cheek with her finger. "although, I would have preferred blue to green…"

Fred's jaw dropped and George finally burst into laughter, followed by Bill and Charlie. The rest of the family couldn't help but smile at the girl.

When Ivy's hair finally faded back into the warm brown it usually was, and the breakfast plates had been cleared away, Ginny slunk up to George and grinned at him.

"I like her. Don't muck this up, alright?"

"Believe me, I don't plan to." said George with a smile

"George, I don't think even _Charlie_ has reacted that well to a prank. She's perfect for you."

"I know," George glanced at Ivy who was talking to Fred and using wild hand gestures and a quill to illustrate something to him. Fred was watching with wide eyes, and writing things down onto a scrap of parchment. He caught George's eye and beckoned him over.

"George, Ivy is _brilliant."_ He said with an awe filled voice. "I mean, I knew she was bloody good at transfiguration, but she has some absolutely smashing ideas."

George raised his eyebrow at Ivy and she smirked as a pink flush colored her cheeks.

"Thank you Fred," said Ivy.

"What kinds of ideas?" asked George.

"Mood shampoo, Gibberish Jam, and Rude Quills," said Fred with an excited expression on his face.

"Tell me more," said George as he settled down into a seat across from Fred and his girlfriend.

**II**

"There's no one like Krum! He's like a bird the way he rides the wind! He's more than an athlete! He's an artist." sighed Ron. Ivy was draped across an armchair with a bottle of butterbeer in her hands. Ginny sat on the floor beside her and giggled.

"I think you're in love, Ron." said Ginny.

"Shut, up,"

George stopped dancing and flapping his arms, and grabbed one of Ron's hands. "Viktor I love you!" he sang.

Fred knelt on the ground and took Ron's other hand. "Viktor, I do!"

Hermione and Ivy started cracking up and Ginny grinned.

"When we're apart my heart beats only for you!" sang the twins along with Harry. Raucous noise and loud banging could be heard from outside. George looked toward his father who was entering the tent in a hurry.

"The Irish are still celebrating?"

"No, it's not the Irish. Hurry up and get to the woods. Go!" He gathered up the teenagers and pushed them unceremoniously out of the tent.

They were met by chaos outside. Tents around them were in flames and screaming could be heard. A strange swooping sensation went through Ivy's belly and she gulped.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "Stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; Mr. Weasley tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble.

"C'mon," said Fred, and grabbing Ginny, he started to pull her toward the woods. George took a hold of Ivy's hand and pulled her after him, followed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air. The group was pushed and prodded, and Ivy realized that they had been separated from the golden trio.

"George!"

"What?"

"We've lost Harry, Ron, and Hermione!"

"They'll be fine! We have to keep moving!" Ivy nodded numbly. Someone in the crowd tore through her and George's intertwined hands, pulling them apart. Ivy was further jostled by the crowd and she lost sight of the Weasleys. She managed to break away from the hysterical crowd and stumbled blindly through the trees. A gnarled root caught her foot and she tumbled to the ground with a grunt. The wind was knocked out of her, and she lay on her back, trying to catch her breath. She couldn't help but feel an odd sense of déjà vu as she stared at the sky. She sat up gingerly and tried to get to her feet. Her ankle throbbed painfully, and she collapsed back to the ground. She was stuck there for the time being, so she attempted to get herself to calm down. She patted her pocket to make sure her applewood wand was with her. She exhaled in relief and leaned against a tree. Suddenly she saw something that made her heart stop.

There, climbing gradually into the sky, was a green symbol. The very same skull and snake that had marked her dream weeks ago.

She screamed with terror and stared at the green smoke in the sky. She was only vaguely aware of the screams that had erupted in the wood around her.

"IVY!?" called a familiar voice from nearby. She couldn't say anything; she couldn't do anything but look on at the thing that had plagued her for the past few weeks. Her unblinking eyes stayed fixed on the glittering green skull. Someone was crunching through the dead leaves and calling her name. She saw the faint glow of a wand tip in her peripherals, and George burst through into the small clearing followed by Fred and Ginny.

"Ivy!" He fell to his knees beside her and took her hand. "Ivy say _something_." She raised her hand and pointed to the sky, fear etched into her unlined face. His eyes rose to the sky, then back to her. She glanced at him, and he was looking at her with something akin to wonder.

"Is that—"she nodded. He picked her up bridal style and turned to Fred.

"We need to go." Fred nodded and took Ginny's hand before making his way out of the forest. George followed behind. Ivy swallowed and licked her dry lips.

"My ankle—"

"I remember," said George. The screaming had long since died down, and people were pushing their way out of the forest behind them. They made it back to the tent and once everyone had been gathered up; made their hasty exit from the campground.

oOo

"You'll tell Dumbledore, yeah?" George eyed Ivy apprehensively. She nodded and rubbed her face to try and wake up.

"Remind me why you woke me up at this ungodly hour?" she asked with a yawn as George tugged her across his backyard.

"I want to show you something," he said. He stopped at the edge of the woods that lined the Weasley property line and spun around to face her. A mischievous glint passed through her eyes and Ivy grew suspicious.

"What're you—" Ivy squealed when George threw her over his shoulder unceremoniously. "George!" He cackled and spoke with a silly voice. "I've kidnapped thou, fair maiden!"

"Well, if you would put this '_fair maiden_' down, I'm sure she would follow you to wherever you're taking her!" George continued down a rarely trodden path with a chuckle.

"And where's the fun in that?"

Ivy huffed and tried to get as comfortable as she could in her awkward position. Finally, George set her down at the base of a large tree. She glanced up at him and he winked at her before pointing up at the tree. From her spot on the ground, she could see a small tree house nestled into the heights of the winding branches. Carved into the trunk was:

_Property of Messrs Gred and Forge_

_NO GIRLS ALLOWED!_

She giggled and looked up at him. "Guess you're breaking your own rule, huh?"

"Rules were meant to be broken, sunshine. Now, do you want to see it?" he gestured to a rope ladder that Ivy hadn't noticed before, and she grinned.

"You bet your ass I do."

"After you," he held onto the ladder to stabilize it, and Ivy began to climb up. He soon followed, and led her into the tiny house. A small, dirty, threadbare rug was spread onto the ground. Sketches littered the walls and floor, and a stack of parchment was weighed down onto the ground by a large rock. A small window was on each wooden wall, and a slanted roof covered their heads. The two of them had to crouch to avoid the ceiling, and Ivy smiled.

"Did the two of you build this all by yourselves?"

"Yeah, with some help from dad, of course. He's the only other person who knows about the place."

"Well, I'm honored to be included onto that list." she said with a bow.

After watching the sunrise over the tops of the trees from their spot, George and Ivy made their way back to the Burrow for breakfast. Mrs. Weasley smiled at Ivy and passed her a plate with eggs and toast. George sped through his meal and ran up the stairs with a quick shout of "shower!" leaving Ivy with Mrs. Weasley.

"Ivy, I was wondering if you've been to buy your school things?"

"Oh, yes, I bought most of everything back in America. I do need some of the books, though. They don't carry the arithmancy of transfiguration texts I need."

"I can pick those up for you when I go to Diagon Alley today. Do you have dress robes?"

"Dress robes? Why do I need dress robes?" asked Ivy.

"It says on your school list that you're supposed to have dress robes this year… for formal occasions." said Mrs. Weasley with a smile.

Ivy immediately thought of the dress that Ingrid and Angelina had urged her to buy in Hogsmeade. "Um, yeah. I bought some a while ago."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and patted her hand. "I'll just pick up your books for you."

Ivy smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. When are you leaving?"

"Today, around noon."

"Okay, hold on." she raced up stairs and collided with damp chest. She fell onto the ground and looked up at the offending obstacle. She felt her face grow warm and she leapt to her feet. George chuckled and tousled his dripping hair.

A blue towel was slung around his waist, and his naked torso was toned and fit. Ivy stared at him and her lips parted slightly.

"Like what you see?" he said with a teasing tone.

"I… um… you…" she stumbled over her words and felt her face grow warmer. He winked at her and pressed a kiss to her cheek before brushing past her into his and Fred's room. Her hand reached up to touch where his lips had been as she shuffled into Ginny's room silently.

The other two girls were still fast asleep so she tried to make as little noise as possible while she dug through her luggage. Her hand felt the drawstring purse she kept her money in and she pulled it out and left the room. She padded downstairs and handed the pouch to Mrs. Weasley.

"For my books," she said with a grateful smile. Mrs. Weasley accepted it from her and continued to bustle about the kitchen. Ivy took a seat beside a bleary eyed Harry and sipped on a cup of tea.

"Morning Harry," she said. He yawned and ran his hand through his messy black hair.

" 'Lo Ivy," he pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and buttered a piece of toast.

Weasleys began filtering into the kitchen. Percy rushed through, grabbed an English muffin, and apparated away, followed closely by Mr. Weasley. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all entered together and Ron began to load his plate. Hermione rolled her eyes as he tore through the food, and Ginny pursed her lips.

"You were up early, Ivy." said Ginny.

"I didn't have much say in the matter, George 'kidnapped' me around 5." Ivy smiled and finished her mug of tea.

"You two are so cute," sighed Ginny, who looked pointedly in Harry's direction. Ivy raised her eyebrows and smirked at an oblivious Harry, who was making plans with Ron for a game of quidditch later.

Boys could be so clueless.

**III**

"They can't do that!" said George indignantly. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?" Beside him, Ivy was rubbing his arm reassuringly with a sympathetic look on her face.

"They're not stopping me entering," said Fred stubbornly, also scowling at the top table. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"Yeah," said Ron, a faraway look on his face. "Yeah, a thousand Galleons. . ."

"Come on," said Hermione, "we'll be the only ones left here if you don't move."

George, Fred, Ivy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off for the entrance hall. Fred turned to George with a scowl.

"How d'you think Dumbledore's going to stop people who're underage?"

"Dunno, blood oath?" Fred rolled his eyes at George.

"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" said Harry.

"Dunno," said Fred, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George..."

"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though," said Ron. Ivy shook her head bemusedly. Her fingers were laced with George's as they walked toward the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" said Fred shrewdly. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school, never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"People have died, though!" said Hermione in a worried voice as they walked through a door concealed behind a tapestry and started up another, narrower staircase.

"Yeah," said Fred airily, "but that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get 'round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?"

"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked Harry. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it? But I s'pose they might want someone older... Dunno if we've learned enough..."

"I definitely haven't," came Neville Longbottom's gloomy voice from behind Fred and George. George let his thoughts wander as Neville conversed with Ron and Harry. Fred was similarly quiet and Ivy rubbed her eyes sleepily.

They made their way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, which was concealed behind a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said as they approached.

"Balderdash," said George, "a prefect downstairs told me."

The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall through which the group climbed. George kissed Ivy goodnight and went up the dormitory staircase and into his room, where his warm bed was waiting. He fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, with thoughts of the Triwizard tournament weaving through his mind.

oOo

"Mister Weasley, your schedule." George took the sheet of paper from McGonagall and waited for her to hand one to Ivy and Fred before examining it.

"How many classes are you taking again Ivy?" he asked her.

"Six," she murmured as she ran her finger down the columns. "I've got herbology, potions, charms, and defense today."

"I'm taking potions as well, Ivy. Partner with me?" pouted Fred.

Ivy rolled her eyes, "of course." she said. George grinned as Lee slid into the seat across from Fred and reached for some bacon. "I've got herbology first thing. Anyone else?" he asked.

Ivy raised her hand slightly and Lee nodded at her.

"I do," said Benjamin.

"Me too," said Alicia, beside a nodding Angelina and Ingrid.

"We should probably head out," said Benjamin with a glance at his watch.

George pressed a kiss to Ivy's temple. "See you in charms, yeah?"

"Yup!" she said brightly as she put her schedule into her bag and bit into a muffin. She and Ingrid followed some Hufflepuffs out of the great hall and he turned to Fred.

"Fourth floor?" he said. Fred nodded, and the two left the great hall. They reached the tarnished mirror on the fourth floor and George glanced around to make sure no one was headed in their direction. With a nod to Fred, he tapped the mirror with his wand. The reflective surface shimmered for a moment and the two stepped through it to reveal a warm room. The furthest wall looked like it had caved in. George sank into an old armchair and propped his feet onto the rickety table nearby. Fred pulled a notebook off of a small bookshelf that had been propped up onto the wall and flipped through it. The two sat quietly for a minute before Fred set the notebook down and perched himself on a dusty loveseat.

"Georgie?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking—"

"Merlin help us," Fred rolled his eyes and continued.

"I've been _thinking_, Ivy's brilliant,"

"Go on,"

"Well, how would you feel if she helped out a bit with some products for the shop?"

George stared at him. "Are you sure, Freddie? I mean, don't get me wrong, I would love to have her help out, but would you?"

Fred thought for a moment. "Yeah. I would."

George grinned. "Brilliant." He said. He glanced at his watch and hopped to his feet. "Well, get to it Freddie. Snape will have your head if you're late." Fred blanched and shot up from the sofa. George pulled the notebook closer to him with a chuckle. He began to address his letter.

"_Mr. Bagman,"_

**IV**

Ivy stretched and rolled her head from side to side before returning to the essay in front of her. She glared at it, almost willing it to write itself, when she felt someone sit down beside her. She smiled at George, who was accompanied by Fred.

"Ivy, we have something to ask you,"

"Ask away," she said. She set down her quill and turned to face the twins.

"Well, young Ivy—"began Fred

"I'm three months younger than you two,"

"Details," Fred waved his hand before sitting in the armchair across from her, "we want you to help us develop products for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

Ivy wasn't sure what she had been expecting. Maybe help with a transfiguration text, but not that. She laughed nervously.

"You're serious?"

"Dead." said George from beside her.

"B-but the shop is your… your baby—for lack of a better term—are you sure?"

"Ivy, would we be asking you if we weren't absolutely,"

"Completely,"

"Positively,"

"Without a doubt,"

"Sure about this?" said Fred and George at the same time.

"You've got a point…" said Ivy.

"So, what do you think?" asked George. She smiled at them and nodded.

"I'm in."

oOo

"Professor McGonagall?" the deputy headmistress looked up from the essays she was grading on her desk and at Ivy.

"Yes, Miss Miller?"

"I was wondering if I could speak to the Headmaster about something."

"Of course; is this urgent?" McGonagall appraised her over her spectacles. Ivy shuffled her feet and shook her head.

"No Professor, whenever he can meet with me is alright." McGonagall nodded primly and glanced at the watch on her wrist.

"I believe the Headmaster is in, you can proceed to his office. The password is 'Cockroach Clusters'. Have a good day Miss Miller."

"Thank you," Ivy left McGonagall's office and walked to the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. She had promised George that she would see him as soon as she could, and so now she stood in front of the twisted face of the statue.

"Cockroach clusters," the gargoyle leapt away, and revealed a spiral staircase. She walked up slowly and knocked on the heavy door.

"Enter," a quiet voice called from inside, and she pushed open the door. "Ah, Miss Miller! Please, take a seat!" She sat gingerly in the purple armchair across from his desk and clasped her hands.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Um, I'm not sure where to start…"

"Anywhere you like my dear."

"Okay, well I… I imagine you heard about what happened at the Quidditch World Cup?" she gave a small smile, and he chuckled.

"Yes, I have."

"I-I stayed with the Weasleys for a few weeks over the summer, to see the World Cup. While I was there, I had this… dream."

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

"About a week before the World Cup, I dreamt about the Dark Mark, and that I would twist my ankle."

"And you twisted your ankle?" She nodded.

"It-it's not the first strange dream I've had, but it's the only one that I've known to be true. "

"Would you mind telling me about these other dreams?" she took a deep breath and nodded.

"The first one I can remember was from when I was about 3. There was a man, with red eyes, and he was furious. He pointed his wand and there was a burst of green light, then he just dissolved. I remember a baby crying as well." Dumbledore steepled his fingers and looked at her curiously.

"I've had so many, some of them are just flashes of light or sound, but I only remember a few of them. There was one with these two men that argued in the street, and the pudgier man pulled out his wand and blew up the road. There was this voice that echoed all around; 'the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master.'" Ivy shuddered slightly and shook her head. Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment.

"Miss Miller, I have reason to believe that you are a Viewer."

"A Viewer?"

"Viewing is a branch of divination; like Seeing, it is a rare gift that cannot be learned. It is not passed down through families; rather, it usually just appears in a child; the first signs typically being apparent at the age of 3." Dumbledore got up from his desk and approached a crammed bookshelf. He pulled out a leather bound tome, and blew some of the dust off of the top. He handed it to Ivy, and she ran her hand over the smooth, burgundy cover.

"'The Ancient Art of Divination'?" asked Ivy as she read the title. Dumbledore returned to his seat and smiled.

"Yes, it should be helpful if you would like to research more about your ability. Now, you must listen to me, Ivy. You cannot tell anybody about what you can do. Perhaps Mr. Weasley, and his brother, but apart from them, no one can know. If knowledge of your Viewing power falls into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous." Ivy nodded and furrowed her brow.

"Professor, what is it exactly that I do?"

"You, Ivy, can see into the past, present, and future, through your dreams. Most Viewers and Seers cannot control what their 'visions' entail, but knowledge of the future—albeit, conscious knowledge of the future—is what makes Viewing so dangerous. Seers cannot remember their prophecies, or the fact that they have even made a prophecy." Ivy twisted her fingers with worry.

"So, every single one of those dreams has or will happen?"

"I'm afraid so. The one with the 'red-eyed man' as you described, appears to be the scene of Lord Voldemort's destruction." Ivy winced when he said his name, and paled.

"If you ever have more questions, please don't hesitate to come see me." Ivy took this as her cue to leave and stood up from her seat.

"Thank you, Professor." He nodded at her warmly and she left the office, closing the heavy door behind her.

She returned to the Gryffindor common room with the book clasped tightly in her arms.

"Ivy! Over here!" she turned to her right to see George beckoning her over to where he was sitting with Fred. She made her way over to them and sat down.

"Where have you been, love?"

"I went to see Dumbledore,"

"Oh! Great! So what happened?"

She quickly recounted the events of her meeting with the Headmaster, and explained her dreams to Fred.

"Wow." said George.

"So we can't tell anyone?" asked Fred.

"Merlin, no. That could be disastrous."

Fred nodded, and ran his hand through his hair.

"I don't want to think about that anymore," said Ivy, "Have you two made any progress with Bagman?"

George glowered and shook his head. "The bastard robbed us."

"Hold on, is this why you guys want to enter the tournament?" asked Ivy with a smirk.

"…no." said Fred.

Ivy rolled her eyes and grinned. "Honestly. Let's see this letter."

She was pulling the sheet of parchment they had been working on earlier toward her when a head of bushy hair came to a stop in front of where they were sitting. In an instant, the letter was out of sight, and Hermione began to rant about house-elf rights. Ivy could feel herself drifting into boredom, when she saw that the younger girl was looking at her expectantly.

"Hmm?"

"I said, would you like to buy a badge?" she held up a button on which the words S.P.E.W was emblazoned.

"Spew?" asked George.

"Its S-P-E-W; the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"I'm not buying one." said Fred. George nodded, and Ivy saw Hermione's crestfallen face.

"I'll buy one." Hermione looked at her with a smile. "Two sickles, right?" Hermione nodded, and Ivy fished around in her pockets for spare change. She handed Hermione the silver coins, and picked a yellow button out of her tin. She fixed it to her bag, and Hermione left to badger another group of students.

George looked at her with bemusement. "Why'd you buy one?"

"She looked crushed when you two didn't, and besides, she's sort of got a point."

Fred opened his mouth to argue with her, and she held up her hand to silence him. "I'm not talking about freeing the elves Fred, but I know that they don't get treated very well in some parts. The way they've got to punish themselves is sick. You have to agree with me there."

George merely nodded and put his arm around her. "You're too nice for your own good, you know."

She sighed and leaned back against him. George and Fred fell back into conversation about the tournament and Bagman, and she felt her eyelids droop.

"Up you get." George nudged her and she groaned and stood.

"Goodnight Fred, Goodnight George." A hand caught her wrist and pulled her back. "What?" she giggled into George's chest.

"I didn't get to kiss you goodnight." She smiled and tilted her face towards him. He pressed his lips against hers for a moment before deepening the kiss. Her lips parted and his tongue darted into her mouth briefly before he pulled away and kissed her nose.

"Goodnight Ivy,"

"Goodnight George."

oOo

Ivy was seated farther down the Gryffindor table than usual with Fred and George.

"It's a bummer, all right," George was saying gloomily to Fred. "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever." Ivy nodded in agreement.

"Who's avoiding you?" said Ron, sitting down next to them.

"Wish you would," said Fred, looking irritated at the interruption. Ivy kicked him from under the table and glared at him. He stuck his tongue out at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked George.

"Having a nosy git like you for a brother," said George.

"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked. "Thought any more about trying to enter?"

"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling," said George bitterly. "She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

"Said raccoon bit him too," whispered Ivy to Hermione. George pouted, and Ivy kissed his cheek.

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" said Ron thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before. . . ."

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," said Fred. "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," said Hermione, and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised, "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage."

She noticed them all looking at her and said, with her usual air of impatience that nobody else had read all the books she had, "It's all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School."

"What are you on about?" said Ron. Ivy looked at her with confusion.

"House-elves!" said Hermione, her eyes flashing. "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does Hogwarts, A History mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"

Harry shook his head and applied himself to his scrambled eggs. Ivy looked around at everyone's reactions to Hermione's sudden outburst and pressed her lips together in amusement.

Ron rolled his eyes at the ceiling, which was flooding them all in autumn sunlight, and Fred became extremely interested in his bacon (both twins _still_ refused to buy a S.P.E.W. badge). George, however, leaned in toward Hermione.

"Listen, have you ever been down in the kitchens, Hermione?"

"No, of course not," said Hermione curtly, "I think students are supposed to—"

"Well, we have," said George, indicating Fred and Ivy, "loads of times, to nick food. And we've met them, and they're happy. They think they've got the best job in the world—"

"That's because they're uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione began hotly, but her next few words were drowned out by the sudden whooshing noise from overhead, which announced the arrival of the post owls. Ivy turned back to the twins and joined into their conversation about the Triwizard tournament.

oOo

The hospital wing was quiet, save for occasional snoring, and the rustling sound of a magazine page being turned. Ivy, Angelina, and Ingrid made their way to a pair of beds on which Fred and George both lay with identical grins.

"Looking good, you two. I love the beards." said Angelina. George stroked his long beard fondly and Ingrid burst into laughter.

"Did Pomfrey say when you two would be back to normal?" asked Ivy, a small smile playing on her lips.

"By the feast tonight," said Fred.

"Good! You guys won't miss the pie; I heard that the elves are making some pumpkin ones!" bubbled Ingrid with an excited clap. Everyone looked at her with faces ranging between amusement and incredulity.

"And the announcement of the champions, Ingrid," said Ivy.

"Oh! Is that tonight? I'm so forgetful sometimes. Does anyone have a remembrall I can borrow?" Everyone shook their heads and Ivy grinned.

They spent the rest of the lunch period in the hospital wing with the twins, leaving only to go to their afternoon classes. Soon, the feast approached, and Ivy met George and Fred in the great hall.

"Ah, you're all smooth now." said Ivy as she patted George's cheek. He wound his arm around her and the three of them sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Hope it's Angelina," said Fred as Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down.

"So do I!" said Hermione breathlessly. "Well, we'll soon know!"

"I bet you two sickles that the champion from Durmstrang is Viktor Krum," murmured Ivy to George.

"You're on," he chuckled as he piled food onto his plate. The feast was marvelous and, as Ingrid promised, had enough pumpkin pie to fill a swimming pool. The student body was restless throughout the meal, and understandably so, in anticipation for the announcement of the champions.

At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.

"Any second," Lee Jordan whispered from beside George.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white. Ivy gripped George's hand in excitement.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Ivy smirked and held her hand out to George, who huffed and gave her two silver coins.

"Thank you, dear." she simpered funnily. George chuckled quietly, and she giggled behind her hand. A third year down the table shushed them, and Ivy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

The Beauxbatons and Hogwarts champions were named Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory. They joined Krum, and Ivy turned to the golden trio with a grin.

"Would you three have wanted to enter?" she asked them. Ron shrugged, and Hermione shook her head.

"No way. I've got enough '_fame' _to last me a lifetime…" said Harry with a grimace.

"I can imagine—"Ivy stopped speaking, for the fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out - "Harry Potter."

oOo

"The Yule Ball is approaching - a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above - although you may invite a younger student if you wish -"

"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then, the Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to - er - let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.

Ivy was seated against the wall between Angelina and Ingrid. Professor McGonagall was holding a house meeting for the fourth years and up, and the emotions in the empty calssroom ranged from excitement, to dread. An old phonograph was beside Mcgonagall, and the desks had been pushed against the walls; leaving a large space for dancing.

"The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in one night, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons!" continued Mcgonagall.  
"Try saying that five times fast." Whispered Fred to George from across the room.

"Babbling, bumbling band of baboons." said George under his breath.

"Babbling. Bumbling band of baboons." whispered Fred. Ivy covered her mouth with her hands. Her shoulders shook from laughter. Ingrid shook her head exasperatedly.

"Inside every girl is a swan, waiting to burst out in flight." said McGonagall with a wide gesture. Ivy saw Ron whisper something to a boy beside him, and rolled her eyes. McGonagall marched over to him and pulled him up.

"Now, place your right hand on my waist,"

"W-where?" Ron looked horrified, and George and Fred both began to laugh at him.

"My waist, Mr. Weasley. Extend your arm." Ron turned an amusing shade of red and Fred catcalled. "Mr. Filch, if you please." The caretaker hobbled over to the phonograph and put the needle on the record. Scratchy waltz music filled the room, and McGonagall began swaying back and forth with Ron.

"Everybody come together; boys, on your feet!" The girls hopped up excitedly, and the boys shuffled awkwardly. Ingrid giggled, and stood in front of a seventh year boy. He winked at her and she grinned. Ivy came to a stop in front of George, and he did a mock bow. She curtsied, and put her hand on his shoulder. They started twirling around the classroom; much to the displeasure of McGonagall, and as quickly as the meeting had begun, it ended.

Ivy and George walked hand-in-hand back to the common room. The rest of their year mates had raced ahead of them, leaving the couple to themselves in the now deserted hallway.

"So, Ivy, I have to ask you something."

"Hm?" he pulled her into an empty classroom, and transfigured a quill into a daisy. He handed it to her and she smiled at him.

"What is it?" He grabbed her wrist and spun her into his arms then dipped her so low that her hair touched the floor. He grinned and brushed his lips against hers briefly. He let her up then winked at her.

"George, what do you want to ask me?"

"Ivy Renee Miller, would you like to be my date to the Yule Ball?" George held her hands between his and batted his eyelashes at her. She smiled and bit her lip.

"My apologies, George. Someone's already asked me." she said in a pompous voice.

"What? Who doth try to take mine fair maiden?!" he said in mock indignation.

"It be Severus Snape; he swooped in like a bat and stole my heart." She swooned, and George stared at her before bursting into laughter and bracing his hand on the desk behind him to keep from falling over.

"Merlin, Ivy. That was a good one." She rolled her eyes and he pulled her into a hug.

"Yes, I will go to the ball with you." she said quietly.

"Fantastic."

* * *

**A/N: and so chapter 5 is complete. **

**The Ron/McGonagall dancing scene from the movies was to good to not include; I had to do it.**

**Tell me what you think!**


	6. Goblet of Fire, part 2

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or its many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books.**

Chapter 6

**I**

Realizations can be great. Most people have plenty of realizations in their lives; and the best of those are realizations of love. They can hit you at the most unexpected of times. Like when you're lying awake in bed, with thoughts of that one person running through your mind; keeping you up until you can't even form coherent sentences the next day. Or when you're taking a test and even the scratching of quills reminds you of the way they itch their head when they're tired. Love gives a sense of hope.

Especially in the darkest of times.

oOo

George wasn't sure exactly when he had fallen in love with Ivy. It might have been the first time they had kissed, or the first time she had pranked Fred (she was the only one who ever got away with it). It very well could have been the day he met her, but details like that didn't matter to him. The important thing was that he did love her. He finally realized that. He wanted to scream it from the top of the astronomy tower. He wanted to run around Hogsmeade and tell everyone he met. He wanted to tell Dumbledore, or McGonagall, even his mum.

He wanted to tell Ivy.

His chest constricted, and he sat up. Swinging his legs over the side, he grabbed a pillow and lobbed through the curtained bed beside his. It hit the desired target, and with a groan, Fred ripped open his bed hangings.

"_What?!"_ he whispered furiously.

"I love her." said George. Fred raised his eyebrows and rubbed his face before joining George on the bed. He patted his back and sighed.

"It's about time you admitted it," said Fred, "now if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate a full night's rest." He made to get up, when George grabbed his arm.

"What if she doesn't love me back, Fred?" he asked quietly.

"George, I've seen the way she looks at you when you're not looking. She loves you. And it's a good thing I like her; if this was about any other girl, I'd probably slap you for waking me up."

George nodded, and released his brother's arm.

"Get some rest Forge."

George sighed and lay back onto his bed. Now all he had to do was tell her.

Easy, right?

oOo

George and Fred handed a piece of parchment to Ivy with identical grins as she stepped through the portrait hole.

"What's this?" she asked.

"The final draft of our letter to Bagman," said Fred, "would you look over it?"

"Sure!" she said. She quickly scanned the letter, and nodded to herself. Her forehead creased slightly, and a small smile played on her lips.

George watched mesmerized. She always had the same expression while she read and it thrilled him to no end to see the special smile she gave only to the words on a page.

"This looks really good. You had better send it soon." She said, handing the parchment back to George. He rolled it up and nodded. "I would let you use Agnes, but I just sent her off with a letter to home. It's a good thing I bought a long-distance owl…"

"Yeah. Maybe Ron'll lend us Pig?" said George. Ivy shrugged and made her way over to where Angelina and Alicia were standing.

George swept his eyes around the room and nudged Fred when he caught sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They meandered over and caught the last bit of their conversation.

"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a bit of a break," said Ron. He placed the last two cards on top of the castle he was building and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.

"Nice look, Ron ... go well with your dress robes, that will." said Fred with a smirk. They sat down at the table with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as Ron felt how much damage had been done.

"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.

"No, he's off delivering a letter," said Ron. "Why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," said Fred sarcastically.

"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," said George.

"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. "So . . . you lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope," said Ron.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred. George nodded from beside him.

"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.

"Angelina," said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment. George glanced at his twin.

"What?" said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Good point," said Fred. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"

Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia and Ivy near the fire, looked over at him.

"What?" she called back.

"Want to come to the ball with me?" Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.

"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and Ivy and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face. Ivy caught George's eye and smirked at him. He smirked back and turned to face the group again.

"There you go," said Fred to Harry and Ron, "piece of cake."

"What about George then; has he got a date?" asked Ron. Fred rolled his eyes, and Hermione put her face in her hands. Harry grinned at the two of them and shook his head.

"Ron, George has a _girlfriend_," said Fred exasperatedly, "Don't you think he would go with her?"

"Right…" Ron turned an amazing shade of red.

Fred got to his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better use a school owl, George. Come on…"

George stood and walked out of the common room with his twin.

"What would make Ron think that I wasn't going with Ivy? Even he's not that thick."

"I have no idea—" Fred stopped short when he came across a Ravenclaw in their year moping by the staircase.

"Oi, what're you doing up here?" the boy sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

"I was coming to ask someone to the ball…"

"Oh? Who?" asked George curiously.

"Er, Ivy."

"What?" said Fred.

"I came up here to ask Ivy to the ball."

"Ivy? Ivy Miller? About this tall, brown hair? American?" the boy nodded to each of Fred's questions. Fred and George exchanged a look.

"Er, sorry to break this to you mate, but she already has a date."

"Yeah, that's what she's been telling every bloke who's asked her."

"So more than one person has asked her already?" asked George.

"Yes."

"And guys just kept asking her?"

"Well, we figured it was just to let down other blokes easy, y'know?"

Fred rolled his eyes and George put his face in his hands.

"Has no one remembered that she actually has a boyfriend?"

The boy looked up at the twins and raised his eyebrows. "She does? Since when?"

"Since bloody last year!" snapped George. The boy took a step back and scratched his arm nervously.

"Right. Er, I'll just be… leaving…" He scurried down the steps and George turned to Fred.

"Did you know that?"

"What, that blokes have been asking Ivy to the ball left and right?"

"Yes!"

"No. No idea." George rubbed his face with his hands and sighed.

"We should get to the owlery. Don't really fancy being caught by Filch tonight."

Fred agreed and they left the corridor.

oOo

"So you carry the two, and then add it to the product of the magic square?" Ivy looked at her homework and scratched her head. She and George were sprawled underneath a tree by the lake. George smiled at her and nodded.

"Exactly!" She scribbled something down onto her parchment, then rolled it up and placed it into her bag.

"Thanks for helping me with this. I like arithmancy, but it's never been my strongest subject…"

"It's no trouble, honestly. What are boyfriends for?"

"I'd say cuddling," George smiled and pulled her into his chest. Ivy sighed and leaned back against him. George's arms encircled her waist and she ran her fingers across his forearms. His face burrowed into her hair and she closed her eyes.

"Ivy?" George asked tentatively.

"Hm?"

"I…. never mind."

"George, what is it?"

"It's nothing. Just forget it."

"Alright…" George loosened his arms from around Ivy and grabbed her hand; pulling her up. She slung her bag over her shoulder, and the couple made their way into the great hall.

As George led Ivy up to the Gryffindors, he noticed guys glaring at him from every table. He sat down across from Fred and Ivy slid into the seat beside him. He pulled some sandwiches onto his plate, and Ivy picked up an apple. Guys continued to scowl at him, so he turned to Fred.

"Fred, d'you know why they keep looking at me?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "Honestly Georgie. I'd have thought it obvious. Who has been asked to the ball by about half of the male population of Hogwarts, and most of the blokes from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? And then who turned every single one of them down, because she's going with you?"

George grinned and Ivy brushed her hand through her hair nervously.

"Sorry George…"

"Don't be sorry love; I'm lucky that the prettiest girl at Hogwarts said yes to me."

"Well you did have the upper hand, she was going out with you already—"

"Shut up, Fred,"

She blushed and then glanced around the great hall.

"Do either of you know why all these girls keep glaring at me?" Fred chuckled and George rolled his eyes.

"Allow me to regale you with a tale, young Ivy," said Fred,

"I'm still _only_ three months younger than you."

"Shush, it's story time. It all began in our first year; when we were innocent and naïve to the ways of the world." Ivy snorted.

"I find it hard to believe that either of you were ever innocent."

"Ivy, if you keep interrupting, you're never going to hear the ending."

"Sorry, shutting up." She pretended to zip her lips and George sniggered.

"As I was saying, when George and I first arrived at this fine establishment, we set off some dungbombs near Filch's office and our reputation as the greatest pranksters these halls have ever seen began; ever since, we've had a gaggle of… _admirers_ that's followed us around."

Ivy giggled and slapped her hand to her mouth. Her eyes sparkled with mirth.

"Oh get on with it." said Fred as he rolled his eyes.

She burst into laughter and slapped the table. "Oh god, that is so great! You two have groupies!"

"Laugh all you want. I still think it's hilarious that you've already been asked to the ball three times today." Ivy immediately stopped laughing and turned bright red.

"Shut up, Fred."

**II**

A brisk wind stirred Ivy's hair. She sighed and pulled her cloak around her tighter.

"What're you thinking about?" she turned her face toward Ingrid and smiled. The friends were walking through Hogsmeade and searching for a set of dress robes for Ingrid to wear to the ball.

"Nothing." lied Ivy. Ingrid nodded and led Ivy into Fining's Robes. Ivy let her mind wander, and she was back at the Burrow with Ginny and Hermione.

"_So Ivy," said Ginny with a smirk, "now that the boys are off playing quidditch, we can have a little chat," she and Hermione grabbed her arms and pulled her up the stairs into Ginny's room._

"_How are you and George doing?" asked Ginny. Ivy grinned and blushed._

"_We're doing alright… why do you ask?"_

"_Do you love him?"_

"_Wh-what?"_

"_Do. You. Love. George." Ginny said with an excited look on her face._

_Ivy stared at her. She blinked once and parted her lips in shock. Did she love him? Her mind was a flurry of kisses, and moments with George. Every time she thought of him, her heart fluttered, leapt, danced. _

"_Well?" prompted Ginny. Hermione bit her lip and watched Ivy as her face flickered through a flurry of emotions. Ivy sat on the bed then drew her knees into herself._

"_I-I'm in love with George Weasley."_

_Ginny and Hermione squealed and hopped around the room._

"_When are you going to tell him?" asked Ginny as she came to a stop in front of Ivy._

_Ivy smiled and blushed. "I don't know."_

_The girls heard chattering from downstairs. "I guess the guys finished playing quidditch." said Hermione._

"_I wish they'd let me play." pouted Ginny. Ivy laughed and stood up. _

"_Come on you two." She led them down the stairs._

"IVY!" Ingrid's twirling around the store brought her out of her reverie. She was dressed in an ice blue gown. Silver was threaded on the hem, and up the skirt. The color brought out her auburn tresses to a brilliant dark red.

"Oh wow, Ingrid. That looks great on you!" said Ivy.

"I love it so much!"

"Jonathan won't know what hit him." said Ivy with a smirk. Ingrid flushed and giggled.

"I still can't believe he asked me to the ball!" Ingrid said as she walked into the changing room. She strode back out and paid for the dress, chattering to Ivy about fizzing whizbees, of all things. Ivy smiled at her friend, linking arms with her as they walked into the warmth of the Three Broomsticks.

oOo

Christmas day arrived without warning. Ivy opened her eyes and immediately noticed a small pile of presents at the foot of her bed. With a grin, she sat up and realized she was the only one of her dorm mates that was awake. She slipped out of her bed and silently padded to Ingrid's bed. She jumped onto it and startled the girl who sat up with a shriek.

"What was that for?"

"It's CHRISTMAS!"

Maisie groaned and covered her face with a pillow.

"Would you two shut up? It's bloody 5 'o clock in the morning!"

"Maisie! I never expected _you_ to curse!"

"I only curse when it's necessary." Came her muffled reply. On either side of her, Angelina and Alicia were stirring.

"Ooh! Presents!" said Alicia.

Ivy hopped back onto her bed and pulled her pile of presents toward her. Reaching for a brightly wrapped parcel, she read the tag and smiled at Ingrid's swirly handwriting. She tore through the wrapping and smiled at the hair clip. In addition to the gift Ingrid had given her—which she was now wearing, much to the excitement of Ingrid—she received a large parcel of Honeyduke's finest chocolates from Alicia, and Maisie; Angelina, a very pretty pair of earrings; Benjamin, a book called 'Transfigure the World'; Lee, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a package of Licorice Wands; and Fred, a tin of Ton-Tongue Toffees.

She smiled when she read all of the accompanying notes, and Ingrid squealed in the bed next to her, and ran to give Ivy a tight squeeze.

"Thank you so much Ivy!" She held out her arm to admire the charm bracelet that Ivy had gifted her with and hopped back to her bed to clear off the scraps of paper that littered the quilt. Ivy shook her head and turned back to her remaining gifts. She picked up a large, square package and pulled off the wrapping. It was from her parents, who sent her a large package with a red knit scarf, and a pair of complementary yellow mittens.

Also in the box was a note from her parents; and a gift from Maggie, who got her some muggle candies from the United States, and an empty photo album.

She put these, along with the rest of her gifts, to the side and pulled the last two presents closer. One was a small box, and the other was a lumpy and squishy package. Deciding to open the smaller of the two first, she undid the ribbon, opened the box—which Ivy realized was a jewelry box—and gasped.

Nestled into the satin, was a tiny golden sun that hung on a delicate chain. She smiled and clipped it around her neck. She saw that the note was still attached to the box, and she unfolded it to read the message:

_For you, my Sunshine._

_Happy Christmas,_

_George_

With a smile, she set the slip of parchment onto her nightstand and opened her final gift. A thick, hand-knitted sweater of pale blue yarn fell onto her lap along with another small tin similar to the one Fred had given her, but filled with fudge. A note was pinned to her new sweater.

_To Ivy, From the Weasleys_

_Happy Christmas!_

She smiled and pulled on the warm sweater and a pair of jeans. She ran downstairs and met George and Fred in the common room. The two of them were both wearing dark blue sweaters with great big yellow letters on their chests.

"Merry Christmas Ivy! Did you get—" Fred cut off and looked at her for a moment, a grin playing on his lips. "Is that what I think it is?" Fred was pointing at her sweater with raised eyebrows. George turned around and flushed.

"Ivy, is that a Weasley sweater?" asked George.

"Yeah! It was really nice of your mom to send me one." said Ivy with a smile.

"You know what this means Georgie? Ivy's an honorary Weasley now!" cried Fred. Ivy laughed.

"She's probably been planning you and George's wedding since she met you at King's Cross last year."

"Sod off, Fred." muttered George, who was turning pinker by the minute.

"Aw, come on George! It's Christmas!" George rolled his eyes at Fred and turned to Ivy with a huge grin.

"Did you like the necklace?" he asked her.

"I love it! It's perfect, thank you George." She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

She swept her hair to the side, so he could see the chain, and he grinned.

"So, breakfast?"

"Yes!" cried Ivy and Fred at the same time.

"Shall we?" George offered her his arm with a grin.

"We shall." She held onto him as they made their way to the great hall.

oOo

Ivy and George spent most of the morning in Gryffindor Tower, where everyone was enjoying their presents, then returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch.

They went out onto the grounds in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Hermione chose to watch Ivy, Harry and the Weasleys' snowball fight rather than join in, and at five o'clock said she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball. Ivy got up and joined Hermione as she waved back to George and Fred.

"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at them incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle with Ivy.

"Hermione, tell me, who _are _you going with?" asked Ivy as they climbed the steps to Gryffindor tower.

Hermione blushed, "You won't believe me," she muttered.

"Try me," said Ivy with a smile.

"Er, Viktor Krum." Ivy widened her eyes.

"Really?" Hermione nodded and grinned.

"He asked me when I was in the library… said he had been working up the nerve to talk to me all year," Ivy squealed.

"_Hermione!_ That is so exciting!" Ivy clapped her hands together in anticipation.

"Fairy Lights," said Hermione as she bit her lip.

"I've got to get ready Ivy, I'll see you at the ball!" she raced up to the fourth year dorm, and Ivy climbed up after her. Ingrid and Angelina were already fixing their hair, while Maisie was applying nail polish to her fingers. She headed into the bathroom to begin preparing for the ball.

**III**

"Benji, mummy said she wanted pictures of you and Maisie before you go to the ball!" a small girl with strawberry blond hair was tugging on Benjamin's sleeve and was carrying a wizarding camera in her arms.

"Demelza, I'll let you take pictures. Just let go of me," he said with a huff. He straightened his dress robes and flushed when he realized that George and Fred were grinning at him.

"So, _Benji,_ who's this?" asked Fred.

"Er, Demelza, meet Fred and George. Fred and George, this is my little sister Demelza." Fred smirked and Demelza blushed furiously.

George moved to the side when Maisie stepped into the common room and made her way over to Benjamin. She was wearing a long dress of dark plum, and her short hair was clipped to the side with pins. Benjamin flushed darker than before. George turned to Fred, and saw his mouth was agape. He followed his gaze and raised his eyebrows at Angelina, whose dark red dress had a slit that went to her mid thigh. She swept over to them and smirked at Fred, who continued to stare at her. George nudged him, and he coughed.

"A-Angelina, you look… amazing." Angelina smiled and shook her head. She turned to George.

"George, Ivy wanted me to tell you that she's almost ready. Oh, there she is," George glanced at the girl's dorm stairs, and his eyes widened at the sight.

Ivy stepped into the common room in a dust pink gown. Her long brown curls, usually untamed and loose, were styled into soft waves that cascaded over her shoulder. Her wide eyes were lined with soft bronze, and her already long lashes were thick and boundless. Her lips were soft and pink, and she stood slightly taller with the presence of high heels. Around her neck was the necklace George had gifted her with, and he grinned at her.

She floated over to George with a small smile, and he grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"You look breathtaking." She flushed and bit her lip.

"Thank you," she whispered. George ran his hand through his hair and followed Fred and Angelina out of the common room. Ivy laced her fingers through his, and he grinned when he saw Harry looking very nervous indeed with Parvati Patil by his side.

The entrance hall was crowded with students and faculty as they waited for the doors to open, and the ball to begin. The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered. Krum was at the front of the party, accompanied by a pretty girl in blue robes he didn't recognize, although she looked familiar. Ivy saw the girl and waved. The girl gave her a small wave back, and then joined Krum and the other champions.

"Do you know her?" asked George. Ivy looked up at him and rolled her eyes.

"George, that was Hermione."

"_That_ was _Hermione?" _she nodded and chuckled.

"Come on,"

The ball raged on, and Ivy and George spent the night dancing exuberantly and twirling around the great hall. After a brief attempt to corner Bagman, George led her off of the dance floor and outside. The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. He sat down on a carved stone bench beside Ivy, and they caught their breaths for a moment. Two figures that appeared to be Harry and Ron slunk past them. Ivy sighed and slipped off her shoes.

"I've been having a really great time George," she said with a grin.

"Me too… Ivy?"

"George?" she said at the same time. They grinned and George scratched the back of his neck.

"You first," said Ivy. George shook his head and smirked. "We should go at the same time."

"Alright, count of three."

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three—"

"I love you," they said at the same time. Ivy giggled and blushed as she looked away from him.

"You do?" asked George in an incredulous voice.

"I do," said Ivy quietly. He leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers. His hand found her neck and she grasped the sides of his robe, pulling him closer. She tasted like butterbeer, and her hands came to rest on his chest. His mouth pulled away and brushed her jaw as she gasped for breath.

"I love you…" he murmured. She caught his lips with hers again and their kiss grew heated—

"Twenty points from Gryffindor, Weasley and Miller!" a snide voice cut through the moment, and George groaned in disappointment. Snape strode off with the headmaster of Durmstrang, and George stood with Ivy.

"I love you, George," she said.

"I love you, too." he said.

They returned to the great hall again and George caught Fred's eye. He grinned and glanced at Ivy.

"YES!" he shouted and threw his fist in the air. Angelina grabbed his arm and pulled it down as she rolled her eyes.

Ivy and George made their way back to the dance floor, where the Weird Sisters were pounding out an intense song. The rest of the ball was spent like this; spinning and thrashing madly as the band churned out one song after the other.

When the Weird Sisters finished playing at midnight, everyone gave them a last, loud round of applause and started to wind their way into the entrance hall. Many people were expressing the wish that the ball could have gone on longer, George being one of them; for it was just another excuse to hold the girl he loved in his arms for a little while longer.

"Come on, let's go to the kitchens." whispered George.

Ivy's face was flushed from the dancing, and tendrils of hair framed her face. She laughed and grabbed his hand.

"Alright." The duo sped to the portrait near the Hufflepuff common room and George tickled the pear. They stepped inside and were bombarded by a throng of house elves with squeaky voices.

"Hello Sir and Miss, you's wanting tea?" exclaimed a small house elf with pointy ears.

Ivy nodded and smiled at the house elves. About four stepped away from the group and led George and her to a table. Another six joined them, laden with trays of biscuits, sugar, and milk.

"Thank you," said Ivy. The house elves beamed and bowed low, their noses brushing the appallingly clean floor.

"Like I said, 'too nice for your own good,'" teased George. Ivy stuck her tongue out playfully.

They stayed in the kitchens until 2 in the morning—George decided it was time for bed when Ivy tried to feed a biscuit into her hair—and the couple snuck back up to Gryffindor tower without trouble.

George fell asleep with a smile on his face.

oOo

"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," said Fred "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up. George, Fred and Ivy had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."

"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised.

"Dunno ... she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office," supplied Ivy.

"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as she got up to go with Ron - both of them looked very anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"

"Right," said Harry uneasily.

"Don't worry Harry; I'm sure they'll be fine." assured Ivy. George smirked and led Ron and Hermione down to McGonagall's office.

After leaving the two younger students at McGonagall's door, the not-so-golden trio trooped to the fourth floor mirror.

George grinned as he remembered the first time he and Fred had shown Ivy the secret passageway-turned-room.

"_What do I want to look at an old mirror for?" asked Ivy. Fred scoffed with a pompous air reminiscent of Percy._

"'_Old mirror' she says, honestly Forge, what are you doing with this bird?" George rolled his eyes and Ivy stuck out her tongue. _

"_Just wait," said George to Ivy. He turned back to the mirror and tapped it with his wand. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her straight through the surface, and she gasped as she took in the room. _

"_What is this place?"_

"_Well, seeing as how you're now officially a member of the 'Wheezes' team, we thought it prudent to show you our workroom." said Fred with a sweeping gesture._

"_Awesome," said Ivy with a mischievous smile._

"George? George?" Ivy waved her hand in front of his eyes, and the room came back into focus.

"Err… sorry." He said. Fred snickered and Ivy gave him a small smile before turning back to the cauldron that was bubbling merrily. Her elbow caught the edge of a book, and she knocked it to the floor. With a sigh, she bent over and picked it up; giving George a good look at her behind. He blushed furiously and glanced around the room, much to the amusement of Fred.

"I think that if we replaced the pinch of green newt's eye with powdered gardenia root, it'll cancel out the excessive nail growth." said Ivy as she stirred the potion slowly.

Fred raised his eyebrows and joined Ivy beside the potion.

"Won't that give it—"

"A bitter taste? Yes, I suppose you're right. What about adding shredded plum skin? That should sweeten it but—"

"Leave the vomit inducing properties untouched! Brilliant!"

George watched the whole exchange with a grin. He settled down in an armchair and pulled the notebook full of other prank items under development toward him. His quill scratched out various arithmancy equations and numbers as he worked the kinks out of formulas.

This was usually how it went, in terms of prank development. Fred and George, although both equally skilled in charms, each had their strongest subject. For Fred it was potions; and George, arithmancy. The addition of Ivy to their team had been a smart move on their part. Her ideas were fresh, and in transfiguration she excelled. This made products like their canary crèmes quite effective, thoroughly combining all three areas of spellwork. Ivy's knack for spotting problems in potions was uncanny as well; making her 'the perfect little assistant' in Fred's words (he had received a good whack from Ivy for that).

They did what they could, what with almost giving up on the Bagman problem. After the Quidditch World Cup, Fred and George had confided in Ivy the fact that Bagman had indeed given them leprechaun gold. They had of course assumed that there had been a mistake, but after _months_ of writing letters, they almost gave up on ever seeing their savings again. So they did the only thing they could do: develop products.

"I think it's done." George glanced up at the two of them. He got up and joined them at the cauldron, peering into it. A thick, vibrant purple substance gurgled and bubbled.

"What are we going to name it?" asked Ivy.

"Vomit Lollies?" asked George, thinking of ways to shape the potion into the treat.

"Oh! Gagging Melts!" exclaimed Ivy.

"Hmm, let's keep it simple, like… Puking Pastilles." said Fred.

"Puking Pastilles … that's perfect." said Ivy. George nodded, and Fred looked between the two of them.

"Puking Pastilles it is." His eyes brightened suddenly, "What if we had different ones? You know, different ways to skive off class?"

"What other things could we do?" asked Ivy. Fred thought for a moment, and George had an idea.

"Nosebleed… Nougat.' He said. Fred grinned and Ivy looked thoughtful.

"Fever… Fever Fudge!" said Ivy. The twins nodded exuberantly and Ivy tapped her cheek with her finger. "Coughing Caramels?" she asked. George shook his head.

"Not sick enough," he said as explanation. She bit her lip and Fred bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Fainting Fancies." He said with finality. George and Ivy smiled.

Maybe they should write to Bagman one more time.

**IV**

_Fred's POV_

"Maybe we should point out the fact that the Ministry would not be keen on the idea of-" said Ivy.

"- that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that-" said George

"- we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. Ivy's right, he wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did -" argued Fred.

"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?" snipped Fred.

He pushed the Owlery door open roughly, startling the three other occupants. Fred, George, and Ivy came over the threshold, then froze at the sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.

"Sending a letter," said Harry and George in unison.

"What, at this time?" said Hermione and Fred.

Fred grinned.

"Fine - we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us," he said.

Harry glanced at the sealed envelope in his hands. Fred shifted his hand so that the name on it was covered.

"Well, don't let us hold you up," Fred said, making a mock bow and pointing at the door.

Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" he said.

The grin vanished from Fred's face. George half glanced at Fred, before smiling at Ron.

"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," he said easily.

"Didn't sound like that," said Ron.

Fred, Ivy and George looked at each other. Then Fred said abruptly, "I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but -"

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," said Ron. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."

"Told you, I was joking," said George. He walked over to Fred, pulled the letter out of his hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."

"No, I won't!" said Ron hotly.

George carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off. George turned around and grinned at Ron.

"Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."

The three of them strode out of the Owlery and raced down the steps.

He smile that had been plastered on Ivy's face faltered, then fell. George sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It seems pointless, doesn't it? It's been close to 7 months now. I don't think we're getting our money back." said Fred uneasily.

"If we want 'Wheezes' to be a reality, we're going to need funding." said George with a sigh.

Ivy pressed her fingers to her temples and muttered a string of curses at Bagman. Fred smirked and shook his head.

Had someone told him two years ago that he and George would be including a third person into their plans, he would have scoffed. Now, he couldn't imagine opening any kind of shop without Ivy right there with them.

He had only known her for a year and a half, and she was quickly becoming one of the most important people in his life. She was his best friend, next to George, and he regarded her as close as a sister.

Ivy told them everything about her dreams and how scared she was of them, and the twins told her about all of their plans, hopes, and doubts about the shop. Things they normally wouldn't share with anyone but each other. Fred wasn't even annoyed by all the time that George spent with her. He knew how happy they made each other, and it wasn't something he could be jealous of.

In short, Ivy was family; and Fred wouldn't have it any other way.

Of course he didn't think that she was absolutely perfect, as George seemed to. She was dangerously stubborn, and had a tendency to overthink the smallest of things; not to mention her often contagious enthusiasm, but occasional mood swings. One day she would be quiet and tired, and the next she would bouncing off the walls. He noticed that she was hard to anger, and the rare times she was mad, she would be snappish and irritable, but preferred not to engage in much argument—quite different from the famous temper of his family, who liked to shout and rage and fight until they were red in the face. She was also a little bit slow on the uptake at moments, and oblivious to the glaringly obvious flirting of the male population in the castle.

She was all of these things, and so much more. She was unwaveringly loyal; brave; intelligent. She valued friends and family more than anything, and regarded the world with a curious optimism that seemed to hover around her. She smiled almost constantly, and was a naturally happy person. Even Snape couldn't find much to criticize her on, preferring to scowl at her rather than pick apart her potions work, and she got along with practically everyone she met. The Slytherins that she interacted with in classes respected her quietly, and she spoke to a few of them regularly, even though she was so blazingly _good_. She was extremely kind to everyone she met, be it wizard, muggle, or even house elf. She was understanding, and had a brilliant sense of humor to boot.

Ivy was a great friend, and Fred loved her more than he thought he ever would. When she first arrived, Fred had considered her a temporary addition to Hogwarts, teasing George about her was fun and by no means did he think that their relationship would last very long. Now, Fred found her to be a permanent fixture in his life.

Fred glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and noted the worried expression on her face, as she leaned into George. It was then that he made a promise to watch out for her no matter what.

Because that's what family does.

oOo

_Ivy's POV_

"So when's the third task Harry?" asked Ivy as she dug into a rather dry piece of toast.

"Er, next month." said Harry.

"I'm sure you'll do great!" said Ivy.

"Th-thanks." said Harry with a small smile. He turned back to Ron and Hermione, leving Ivy to herself and the rest of the sixth years.

Ivy grinned and glanced around the great hall. She smirked and passed Angelina, Lee, and the other sixth year Gryffindors noise makers.

"Remember, when they sit, try not to look suspicious." she said as George and Fred entered the great hall. They sat down on either side of Ivy and began piling food onto their plates. George was unusually quiet, and Fred glanced at her every so often.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" asked Ivy. She fought to keep a smile off of her face, and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"A little bit of this, a sprinkle of that… you know how it goes." said Fred.

"Ah, but I'd have thought you guys would want to study for the DADA test that's tomorrow." she said carefully. Both Fred and George looked at her with incredulous faces.

"I'll take that as a no. By the way, we're having a party tonight. Maisie's birthday was ages ago and we never got around to celebrating." This was met by silence from the twins. Ivy grinned at Ingrid from across the table, who seemed to be having a hard time not laughing. She pulled out a shiny noise maker and blew into it loudly, soon joined by a chorus of other honking noises. Everyone in the great hall turned to the Gryffindor table.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" cried Ivy. Fred burst into laughter along with George.

"Merlin, we thought you'd forgotten!" said Fred.

"How could I forget?" asked Ivy with a teasing tone. "You make me sound heartless. Besides, it's not every day you come of age." George grinned at this and Ivy pressed a kiss to his cheek. She placed a package in front of each of them.

"For me? Ivy, you shouldn't have!" cried Fred. Ivy rolled her eyes and made a 'go ahead' motion with her hands. The two of them tore into the wrapping.

"Erm, what's this?" asked Fred confusedly as he dangled the braided piece of yarn in front of him.

"It's a bracelet. I've got one too, see?" she held out her arm so that they could see the purple string tied around her wrist. "I've charmed them so that they let you know when one of us is in trouble. They can't be damaged or destroyed, and can only be removed by the wearer… if you don't like them you don't have t keep them."

George beamed and handed Ivy his bracelet, "They're brilliant. Could you put mine on?" She nodded and secured the orange yarn around his wrist, before doing the same with Fred's blue one. They thanked Ivy for the Zonko's prank supplies and additional potions ingredients she had gotten them, before Fred raced off leaving George with Ivy.

"You know, there's more to your gift." she said with a sly smile.

"Oh?" George raised his eyebrows at her. Ivy nodded and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, we've got until lunch." she said as she dragged him through the halls and up various stairwells. She pulled him into a shadowy corner, and George smirked.

"If you wanted to kiss me Ivy, you should have just said so," he said as he leaned toward her. She grinned and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Not so fast, lover boy. That's not your gift." She felt George pout beneath her fingers. She lowered her arm and pointed to a door that was nearly concealed in the darkness of the hallway. George cocked his head and stepped closer to it.

"I've never seen that before." Ivy grinned and laced her fingers with his again.

"Come on then," she said. She turned the knob on the door, and stepped through it, revealing the bottom of a rickety, wooden spiral staircase. Slowly, they ascended hand in hand. When they reached the top, there was an emerald green sofa, a spattering of armchairs, a few wooden chairs, and a bookshelf _filled_ with tomes of various size and color. A fire was flickering cheerfully in the fireplace, engulfing the cozy space in a warm glow. The room had a feeling of abandonment, and the air was slightly musty. George let go of Ivy's hand and wandered about, glancing out of windows and leafing through a few of the books that had been left out and coughing from the cloud of dust they had released when he had opened them.

"What is this place?" he asked her. Ivy shrugged.

"I think it's an old prefect common room, but I'm not sure. I found it last week on accident."

"Wicked." murmured George. Ivy smiled and bit her lip. She took a step closer to him.

"So… you were saying something about a kiss?" she asked innocently.

"Was I?" he grinned. She nodded.

"You were. Something about me telling you when I wanted one," George collapsed onto the sofa and smirked. He put his hands behind his head.

"Yes, what about it?"

"I'd very much like to kiss you, George."

"Not so fast—" George mimicked her, but was cut off as she plopped onto his lap and silenced him with her lips. His arms wound around her waist and she ran her fingers through his vibrant hair. He lowered her onto her back and she put her hands on his chest as her tongue traced the bottom of his teeth. George shifted his soft lips to her jaw and neck. She shivered from pleasure. His teeth grazed the shell of her ear, and she moaned quietly.

He pulled away with a bemused expression and she whimpered disappointedly. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and blushed at Ivy. She sat up and smirked at the disheveled state of his clothing. His tie was loose and askew, and his collar was rumpled. She glanced at his deep blue eyes, which darkened as they traveled her.

He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Merlin Ivy,"

She tried to tame her messy hair. Her hands went to straighten her sweater, when she realized that some of the buttons on her shirt had come undone somehow. The edge of her bra was peeking through the material, and she flushed and quickly refastened the buttons and smoothed her skirt.

"That was—that… wow." said George. He swallowed nervously and glanced back at Ivy. She smiled at him.

"Ivy?"

"Hm?"

"Would you ever want to—erm—ah, this is uncomfortable."

"What is it?"

"We've—we've been dating for a while now, and—and I love you,"

"I love you too, George." He sent her a small smile.

"Er, how do you feel about taking another step in our relationship?" Ivy's eyes widened and she blushed. Seeing her expression, George hurried to finish what he was saying.

"We don't have to now or anytime soon if you don't want to. I—I just wanted to know what you thought." he looked at his hands. Ivy twisted her fingers together. What did she think? She had never gone that far with anyone before.

She certainly did not shy away from the idea of having sex, and she wanted to lose her virginity to George; she had decided a while ago, but wasn't sure she was ready to do it anytime soon.

"I think we should just let it happen when it happens." said Ivy after a moment. George raised the corner of his mouth in a half smile.

"Have-have you ever—"

"No," said Ivy, "you?"

"No, I haven't. People seem to think that I'm much more experienced than I really am. Not sure what gave them that impression; probably Fred. The bloke gets around quite a bit..." Ivy giggled and leaned back against his chest.

"I'm glad we talked about this." said Ivy.

"So am I." said George.

* * *

**All righty, so Goblet of Fire should have one or two more parts left, but I hope you liked at least some of this. I'm still fairly new to writing, so if anything is horrendously awkward, I'm sorry. It's a work in progress!**

**Please review and tell me what you think! **

**chapter 7 should be posted next week.**

**Until then!**


	7. Goblet of Fire, part 3

**A/N: I do not own the wizarding world of Harry Potter or its many wonderful characters. They are all the property of J.K. Rowling.**

**The points of view switch back and forth, Sorry if it's confusing at all. If anything looks remotely similar to something that JKR has written, it's probably because it is. Some scenes may include dialogue directly from the books.**

Chapter 7

**I**

Ivy joined George, Fred, Ginny, their mother, and their older brother Bill in the stands of the Quidditch pitch. Ron and Hermione scurried up not long after and sat beside Bill. The group continued to speculate about what sorts of challenges the champions might have to face in the maze, and Ivy shivered in the chilly May breeze. George wrapped his arm around her and held her close to him. She burrowed her face into his chest and snuggled into the warmth of his body. Ivy made eye contact with Mrs. Weasley, who had seen the entire exchange, and fought to conceal a giggle when the older witch clasped her hands with glee.

Even from their height in the stands, they could not see into the tall hedge maze. The crowd cheered deafeningly when the champions finally made their debut, and without further ado, Harry and Cedric disappeared into the darkness. Viktor, then Fleur, followed soon after, and the spectators could only wait to find out who would win.

They sat on the hard wooden benches for what felt like hours; making small talk and snacking on sweets that had been snuck up into the stands. Ivy's eyelids drooped and her body relaxed against George's, her head resting in his lap as he played with her hair absentmindedly.

"_Kill the spare."_

_A burst of green light and an incantation came from the figure opposite Ivy. She spun around in horror as the spell hit its target, sending none other than Cedric Diggory tumbling to the ground. A sob choked in her throat and she clasped her hands to her mouth as she realized what was happening. A dream. This was a dream, one of those dreams. _

_She watched in horror as the events unfolded. _

_Tears poured down her face freely as a horrible man with the same red eyes from her dreams, rose from the gigantic cauldron; which could only mean one thing._

_Voldemort had returned._

"_No," moaned Ivy. Her breath started coming in short gasps _

"_Ivy!"_

_She whirled around looking for the source of what had called her name. She was quickly becoming hysterical, and fell to her knees and her chest tightened painfully._

_Harry, who had been tied up, was released from his bonds and lay in a heap on the ground._

_The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. And one by one they moved forward . . . slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort and kissed the hem of his black robes._

"_Master . . . Master "he murmured._

_The Death Eaters behind him did the same; each of them approaching Voldemort on his knees and kissing his robes, before backing away and standing up, forming a silent circle around him._

_A bloody, dirty Harry was shoved to his feet. _

"_Ivy, please," the voice that whispered pleadingly was familiar. She clutched her robes in terror and watched helplessly as Harry and Voldemort dueled and were engulfed in a golden dome of light. _

"_Come back to me Ivy, come back, love,"_

She jerked in the tight hold she was in, and opened her eyes. George looked down at her with fear in his eyes as he stoked her hair and rocked her. She was confused for a moment before remembering everything.

She tensed in his arms and clutched the front of his cloak. A sob choked out of her, and she clenched her teeth.

"No," she whimpered. She felt her eyes well with tears and blinked rapidly to try and quell the oncoming flow. They poured freely down her already damp cheeks, and spilled onto the front of George's robes.

"Ivy, what is it?" she shook her head and struggled to get out of his arms. He held her firmly, and Fred looked on with concern. The other Weasleys and Hermione watched the exchange with confusion and Ginny's eyes were wide.

"D-Dumbledore," she managed to choke out. George stood with her.

"Do you think you can walk?" Ivy shook her head and continued to sob as George carried her, bridal style, as quickly as he could down the unsteady stairs to where Dumbledore was waiting with the other judges.

He stepped onto the springy grass and Professor McGonagall caught sight of the duo. She rushed over to them.

"Mr. Weasley, Miss Miller, what happened?" Ivy shook her head and pressed her lips together. A tremor quaked through her, and George held her even tighter.

"We need to see Professor Dumbledore," blurted George. McGonagall scanned them for something, and nodded primly. She turned and strode over to Dumbledore before saying something to him under her breath. He caught sight of Ivy and came over to where George was standing. Ivy patted his arm gently, and he set her down gingerly; keeping his arm around her when she swayed on her feet.

"Miss Miller, tell me what you saw." said Dumbledore kindly.

Ivy looked at the ground and wiped her hands across her face to rid herself of the wetness. Her breathing had not returned to normal, and she did her best to say what she had seen. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times.

"C-Cedric's dead," she finally gasped out. George's grip around her tightened around her and he stared at her in shock. She tried to compose herself before continuing.

"A-and You-Know-Who is b-back."

oOo

George's POV

George glanced at Ivy with a small smile. The witch had fallen asleep in his lap, and Fred was smirking at him.

"You're whipped, mate." teased Bill.

"He's in love," corrected Fred with a snigger.

"My baby's in love!?" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley. George turned to glare at Fred, who only smirked at him more. Ivy shifted in her sleep, and George glanced at her again.

Something was wrong. That was obvious when George noticed her hands began to tremble. Her brow furrowed for a moment, and he could see her eyes flickering beneath her eyelids. George and Fred exchanged a glance, when she began to mumble.

"No," she shook her head and began breathing in short gasps. Her hands clenched, and her eyelashes caught tears as they washed down her face.

"George! What's happening to her?" asked his mother with a worried tone of voice. Fred shook his head at her and she nodded.

Ivy convulsed and George immediately gathered her up in his arms. She shrieked, silencing everyone around them. They all turned to look at her, as she struggled and sobbed in George's arms.

"Ivy," he said to her.

She whimpered and became still, though she didn't cease her tears.

"Ivy, please,"

Ginny glanced at Fred, who was worrying his lip and wringing his hands. She had seen one of Ivy's nightmares before, and it terrified her.

"No. NO!" she kicked her feet, and Fred latched onto them, holding her still.

"Come back to me Ivy, come back, love," George whispered in her ear. He brushed the damp hair from her forehead and kissed the top of her head as he rocked her.

Her eyes fluttered open, and a flash of recognition appeared in her eyes. Confusion colored her face, before turning to shock and horror.

George knew that look. He had seen it once before; that night at the Burrow. He feared the worst and eyed her apprehensively.

"What is it?" she shook her head with fear in her eyes.

George held the hysterical girl in his arms tightly, refusing to let her down. He knew that it helped calm her down, no matter how much she struggled.

"D-dumbledore," she managed to splutter out thickly. He and Fred exchanged a look of fear. She never went to Dumbledore about her dreams, preferring to confide in Fred and himself about her most recent ones involving garbled bits of conversation, an old house, and a dirty armchair.

Her reactions to the dreams were more or less the same; crying being the most prominent, regardless of the content. Depending on how bad it was, she would sink deeper and deeper into hysteria. Only George had ever been able to comfort her, and help her forget them.

He stood at the bottom of the stands and waited for Dumbledore to arrive. He finally saw the tall wizard approach them. Ivy patted his arm softly, and George took it as his cue to set her on the ground. She swayed dangerously on her feet, and George supported her with his arm.

"Miss Miller, tell me what you saw." said Dumbledore.

Ivy wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. Her chest heaved from the deep breaths she was inhaling and her face was distraught. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times like a fish. It might have been funny in different circumstances, but even George could not laugh with the realization of how bad it must have been.

"C-Cedric's dead," she finally mumbled out. George's grip around her tightened around her and he stared at her in shock. Her eyes closed and her face contorted into a look of pure terror. He glanced at Dumbledore who was watching her with concern and an indescribable emotion flashed across his face at her next words.

"A-and You-Know-Who is b-back." George stared at her with wide eyes, when a commotion on the field claimed their attention.

There, on the ground, lay a blood covered Harry clutching the Triwizard cup and a body.

Cedric Diggory.

Dumbledore rushed over to Harry without a backwards glance, leaving a sobbing Ivy and a frozen George in the shadows of the Gryffindor stands.

Coming to, George crouched down beside Ivy and lifted her to her feet; guiding her toward the castle.

oOo

Harry's POV

"The last murders the wand performed," said Dumbledore, nodding. "In reverse order. More would have appeared, of course, had you maintained the connection. Very well, Harry, these echoes, these shadows . .. what did they do?"

Harry described how the figures that had emerged from the wand had prowled the edges of the golden web, how Voldemort had seemed to fear them, how the shadow of Harry's mother had told him what to do, how Cedric's had made its final request.

At this point, Harry found he could not continue. He looked around at Sirius and saw that he had his face in his hands.

Harry suddenly became aware that Fawkes had left his knee. The phoenix had fluttered to the floor. It was resting its beautiful head against Harry's injured leg, and thick, pearly tears were falling from its eyes onto the wound left by the spider. The pain vanished. The skin mended. His leg was repaired.

"There's something else you must know Harry. There is one other person that has seen the horrible events of this evening." Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Snape?"

"_Professor _Snape, Harry, but no; Miss Miller—"

"Ivy?!" he asked incredulously. That was the last person he had been expecting.

"Yes. She is a Viewer—"

"A Viewer? I heard the last living one died years ago." said Sirius with surprise.

"Miss Miller is American; The British and American ministries do not usually share records, and I do not believe she is yet registered. Harry, Sirius, you would do well not to mention her abilities to anyone. If you must discuss it, Misters Fred and George Weasley are the only others aware of her circumstances. The reason I tell you this, Harry, is that if you find yourself in need of someone to talk to, Miss Miller may be your best option. She saw everything."

"E-everything?"

"I'm afraid so." Harry nodded somewhat stiffly. He felt mildly relieved, yet quite confused at the same time.

"Er, sir?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"What exactly is a Viewer?"

"Viewing is a rare branch of divination," Harry wrinkled his nose at the mention of his least favorite subject, "Miss Miller has the ability to see the past, present, and future through her dreams. It is prudent that you do _not_ tell anyone. If Voldemort gets wind of this, she will be in grave danger."

"Why is she seeing Voldemort, sir?"

"An extremely good question, Harry; Viewing does not allow you control over what you see. For some reason, Ivy is very in tune with the happenings of magical Britain, giving her sight into the more important happenings of the community and to herself."

Harry nodded tiredly.

"I will say it again," said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and resettled itself upon the perch beside the door. "You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight. Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found yourself equal to it - and you have now given us all we have a right to expect. You will come with me to the hospital wing. I do not want you returning to the dormitory tonight. A Sleeping Potion, and some peace . . . Sirius, would you like to stay with him?"

Sirius nodded and stood up. He transformed back into the great black dog and walked with Harry and Dumbledore out of the office, accompanying them down a flight of stairs to the hospital wing.

oOo

Ivy's POV

"Miss Miller, please take a seat." said Dumbledore as he gestured to one of the empty seats in front of his large oak desk. Ivy sat stiffly and blinked her heavy eyelids a few times. She glanced at her reflection in the large mirror that stood nearby and frowned slightly. Her lips were dry and chapped her skin pale and her nose red tipped. Her usually wide and alert brown eyes were red rimmed and slightly bloodshot from lack of sleep. She was too afraid to allow herself to sleep. There was the chance she might see something again, and she could_ not_ let herself see something.

Would not see something again.

The tournament had ended two days ago, and she had spent all of that time holed away in her dormitory with her curtains drawn. Ingrid and Angelina had both come in telling her that George was worried out of his mind, but she ignored them. She needed to be by herself, no matter how badly she wanted to be held in George's strong, safe, secure arms.

Finally an owl had summoned her to Dumbledore's office, and she forced herself to come down from her sanctuary.

"In light of recent events, some measures must be taken to ensure your safety." said Dumbledore grimly, "You have a few options. The first ensures your safe return to America and reenrollment at Salem Academy."

"No. Hogwarts… Hogwarts is my home," said Ivy. Her voice cracked from lack of use, and she coughed lightly to clear her throat. Dumbledore gave her a small smile, and steepled his fingers.

"Even so, all of Britain is in danger. I have no doubts that war is coming."

"Then I want to stay and fight for the people I love. The people I've come to love."

"It's not so simple, you are still underage."

"I come of age in less than two months!" she stood and crossed her arms. Her cheeks began to heat angrily, and she scowled slightly.

"Miss Miller, please." She sat and dropped her hands to her lap.

"Please, Professor. I need to stay." He regarded her for a moment and nodded.

"You will return to your parents for a month. Someone will retrieve you and bring you somewhere safe."

"Safe?" asked Ivy in confusion.

"Safe." said Dumbledore determinedly.

**II**

"I thought I'd find you here."

Ivy sighed and raised her head from her arms. She smiled weakly at George before looking back at the floor.

"Is there a reason you're avoiding me?" he sank down into the emerald couch and ran his hand through his hair.

"I'm not avoiding you, I –" she bit her lip and looked away.

"I?" prompted George.

"I'm afraid."

"You're afraid? Of what?" asked George gently.

"Everything. I'm afraid of my dreams, I'm afraid of You-Know-Who, I'm afraid of the stupid war that's supposedly coming. I'm afraid of leaving."

Ivy said the last part quietly, and George got up from where he was sitting and joined her on the floor. He took her face in his hands and traced her lip with his thumb. She refused to meet his gaze, keeping it trained on the fire.

"Hey, look at me." She flicked her eyes to his and swallowed. Sadness pierced him as he took in her appearance. Her rich brown hair was lacking its usual shine, sitting dully on top of her head in a lazy bun instead of flowing freely down her back. Her face was pallid and her pink cheeks had lost their glow. Dark bags hung under her eyes. The beautiful brown eyes that he loved so much were supposed to sparkle happily, or glint mischievously, and now only blinked tiredly at him.

She looked so broken.

She laughed harshly, and he cocked his eyebrow at her.

"Some Gryffindor I am. Scared of everything."

"What are you on about? That makes you even more Gryffindor than before." She turned a questioning gaze to him.

"Being able to admit what you're afraid of; that's quite brave." She blinked a few times and her breath caught in her throat.

"George –" he silenced her with a chaste kiss.

He pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers. He caught her hand with his and they sat like that for a while; listening to each other breathe.

"I love you so damn much."

She cracked a smile and lay back onto the floor. She closed her eyes and sighed. George lay back beside her, keeping her hand trapped in his. A question swam to the front of his mind.

"Okay, this had been bothering me since you got here; how can you tell me and Fred apart? Even mum gets us mixed up sometimes."

"It's easy, your voice is deeper; you usually let Fred lead with banter; your hair is slightly darker than his; your eyes are bluer; you have this little freckle near your eyebrow… It's little things." George glanced at her with a small smile.

"There are other ways too. Your smile is more crooked – I love your smile by the way – you're actually barely taller than he is; you're less compulsive; you're sweet, and thoughtful; it takes much more to make you angry; you look at me differently…"

George chuckled and she rolled onto her side with a grin. Her eyes already started to light up the way they usually did.

"George, how do you tell me and my twin apart?"

"You don't have a twin, idiot." She glared at him and stuck out her tongue.

"What if I did? What would help you tell us apart?"

George thought for a moment, a smirk settling on his lips.

"Your beautiful eyes. Your laugh. Your voice." she smiled at him, "that ticklish spot on your knee…" he reached down and tickled her. She squealed and giggled.

"G-George! Cut it out!" she wheezed, clutching her side.

He stopped immediately and put his arms behind his head, settling back and staring at the ceiling. She got up and wandered about the room.

"Hey George, come over here." Ivy was crouched down beside the bookshelf and was studying something on the side.

He got up with a grunt and shuffled to her. Bending down to inspect what had caught her attention. Carved into the wooden side, was an array of initials and dates.

He traced the years with a smile. '33, '74, '67, '45, '21, '89,'53, '55, '82…

"Want to add our names?" asked Ivy with a happy smile.

"You bet. Let me get my wand." He reached into his pocket and grabbed his wand before pointing it at a free spot.

"_Adscindendius_," he muttered. An orange flash whipped out of the end, leaving a slightly smoking _GW_ where it had hit. Ivy did the same, creating an _IM. _George added the year, '95, and the two stepped back to admire their handy work.

"It looks good," remarked Ivy.

"It does…" confirmed George as he kept his eyes on Ivy.

"Like what you see?" she teased as George smirked.

"Always."

oOo

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" He jerked his head at Ron and Hermione.

"Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well—second—Diggory was the f-"

George, Fred, and Ivy had heard enough, whipping out their wands and sending the first spells they could think of toward the bullies.

Blinded by the blaze of the spells that had blasted from every direction, and deafened by a series of bangs, George and Ivy shielded their eyes for a moment.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all lying unconscious in the doorway. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on their feet, all three of them also having used a different hex.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," said Fred matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment. He had his wand out, and so did George, who was careful to tread on Malfoy as he followed Fred inside. Ivy was close behind them, though she side-stepped the bodies and kicked them a little bit out of the compartment with her heels instead.

"Interesting effect," said George, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," said Harry.

"Odd," said George lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."

Ron, Harry, and George kicked, rolled, and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle—each of whom looked distinctly the worse for the jumble of jinxes with which they had been hit—out into the corridor, then came back into the compartment and rolled the door shut.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" said Fred, pulling out a pack of cards.

They were halfway through their fifth game when Harry apparently let curiosity get the better of him.

"You going to tell us, then?" he said to George. "Who you were blackmailing?"

George and Fred explained the situation to the golden trio. Ivy added some facts here and there, but decidedly let them take control of the story. She had decided not to gamble at the world cup, but had supported them while they were trying to earn back their money in any way that they could.

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," said Fred. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

"So we asked for our money back," said George glowering.

"He didn't refuse!" gasped Hermione.

"Right in one," said Fred.

"But that was all your savings!" said Ron.

"Tell me about it," said George. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?" said Harry.

"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" said Harry. "Well - I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope," said George, shaking his head. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."

George sighed deeply and started dealing out the cards again.

The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough after that. Once the train pulled into the sation, Ron and Hermione had pulled their trunks out of the compartment and onto the platform. Harry, however, stayed put.

"Fred - George - wait a moment."

The twins turned. Ivy hesitated as well. Harry pulled open his trunk and drew out his Triwizard winnings.

"Take it," he said, and he thrust the sack into George's hands.

"What?" said Fred, looking flabbergasted.

"Take it," Harry repeated firmly. "I don't want it."

"You're mental," said George, trying to push it back at Harry.

"No, I'm not," said Harry. "You take it, and get inventing. It's for the joke shop."

"He is mental," Fred said in an almost awed voice.

"Listen," said Harry firmly. "If you don't take it, I'm throwing it down the drain. I don't want it and I don't need it. But I could do with a few laughs. We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long."

"Harry," said George weakly, weighing the money bag in his hands, "there's got to be a thousand Galleons in here."

"Yeah," said Harry, grinning. "Think how many Canary Creams that is."

The twins stared at him. Ivy clapped her hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

"Just don't tell your mum where you got it... although she might not be so keen for you to join the Ministry anymore, come to think of it. . . ."

"Harry," Fred began, but Harry pulled out his wand.

"Look," he said flatly, "take it, or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Just do me one favor, okay? Buy Ron some different dress robes and say they're from you."

He left the compartment before they could say another word, stepping over Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were still lying on the floor, covered in hex marks.

They exited onto the platform with looks of shock on their faces.

"Well that solves one problem," said Ivy lightly. Fred grinned weakly at her. Mrs. Weasley bustled over to her and wrapped her up in a warm hug.

"Hello dear," she said with a smile.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." George exchanged a look with Fred, and the two snuck over to where Harry was hugging Ron and Hermione. Harry caught sight of them.

"Harry – thanks," George muttered, while Fred nodded fervently at his side.

Harry winked at them, turned to his muggle uncle, and exited the station. Fred and George watched his retreating back before turning to each other and grinning widely.

They sent Ivy off in a taxi to the airport after exchanging goodbyes, and made it back to the Burrow to start packing.

This was going to be a strange summer.

oOo

"When's she getting here?" asked George impatiently. He paced around the kitchen of Grimmauld Place much like he had done at the Burrow the previous summer. It was late June, and Ivy was due to arrive at headquarters with a designated guard person.

Fred sipped on a cup of tea and watched his brother with amusement.

"Georgie, you're going to wear a hole into the floor." He looked thoughtful for a moment, a grin stretching across his features, "And though I don't think Sirius would mind all that much, you should probably sit down."

George sighed and slipped into the seat beside Fred, taking the mug out of his hands and drinking deeply from it.

"Ugh, tea." He shoved it back into Fred's hand and stood back up to resume pacing.

"What did you expect? Irish coffee?"

"Why would you let me drink from it? You know tea makes me tired."

"And it wakes _me_ up; George, get a grip."

"Why shoul—" he cut off as shuffling came from the front door area. He heard the heavy door drag across the dusty and thick rug that adorned the foyer, and he stuck his head into the hallway to come face to face with a gnarled face, and a whizzing blue eye. George's excited grin faded quickly.

"Er… Mad-Eye… thought you were someone else."

Fred was collapsed onto the table in a fit of silent laughter. The corner of Mad-Eye's mouth twitched slightly.

"Who might that be?"

George felt his cheeks heat. "Ivy."

"She's in the front hall. Is Black around?" he barked, but George had rushed past him already, leaving Fred with the mental ex-auror.

"Ivy!" he swept her into a bone crushing hug the moment he caught sight of her petite frame. She eagerly returned the embrace with a wide smile. He held her out at arm's length to get a good look at her.

She looked a right sight better than she had when they had parted ways on the platform. Her hair looked healthy and was a good half-inch longer than it had been before. Her eyes sparkled with emotion and her skin had regained its usual color. Her lips were plump and pink; not cracked and chapped and red from worry. She grinned at him and rose on her toes, lifting her face to get closer to his. He closed the distance between them and caught her lips.

They were a well-oiled machine; moving their mouths with familiarity and passion. He brushed his thumb across her cheek and she burrowed her hands into his hair.

"Ugh!" a voice came from behind George. He broke away from Ivy and her cheeks blazed red.

George turned to glare at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny who stood behind him with very different expressions on their faces. Ron looked incredibly uncomfortable and slightly disgusted; Ginny, surprisingly wistful. George fought to roll his eyes; the reactions of his siblings had said quite a bit. Hermione had this silly little grin. Unsurprisingly, under her arm was a book that looked too heavy to be legal.

"If you two lovebirds are done snogging, breakfast is ready!" A different, older voice floated down the hallway.

"That was Sirius. He wanted to meet Ivy…" Ginny offered as explanation. George smirked and grabbed Ivy's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He tugged her after Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and entered the kitchen to find Fred, Mad-Eye, Sirius, Remus, and his mother all seated at the table.

"Alright there, dear? How was your trip?" asked Mrs. Weasley kindly to Ivy.

"It was good, thank you."

"Good to see you, Ivy." said Remus with a nod in her direction.

"You too, Remus." She said with a smile. George grinned when he remembered Ivy telling him something about Lupin's chocolate addiction. The two had bonded a bit during fifth year, when she had gone to him for extra help with defensive spells.

"Ivy!"

"Fred!" she mimicked with a smirk. Fred leapt out of his seat and almost tackled Ivy with a hug. She chuckled and patted him on the back.

"Ah, so _this_ is Ivy." Sirius stood up and circled the large dining table to a spot in front of her. "I've heard quite a bit about you, you know; although the descriptions hardly do you justice." He winked at her with a wicked grin. George felt a flash of annoyance at the man. He glanced at Ivy and saw her smirk at Mad-Eye.

"Ah, so _this_ is Sirius." She drawled. His jaw dropped slightly. "Mad-Eye's warned me about you. Told me to watch out for any pranks you might try to pull on me. Fred or George can vouch for me, just so you know, but I'm not afraid to retaliate." Sirius grinned and turned to the twins.

"Oh, I like her. She's been given my stamp of approval. What say you Moony?"

"I agree wholeheartedly Padfoot." said Lupin with a grin.

George looked at Fred in shock.

"Did-did you just say _Moony?!"_ Fred exclaimed.

"And did you say _Padfoot?!"_ asked George in wonder.

"Yes…" said Sirius warily. He turned to Lupin with a questioning look on his face. He merely grinned knowingly; he knew what would be coming next.

"You two were Marauders!" shouted Fred. Something dawned on him and he turned to George with excitement.

"We've met Marauders!" they exclaimed at the same time before dancing around the kitchen table.

**III**

_She gasped as her back made contact with the cool wall. A small sprinkle of plaster from the ceiling showered over the pair. His nose trailed across her jaw, his hot breath washing over her neck as her hands brushed his back. She fingered the hem of his thin t-shirt, as he pressed a kiss below her ear. _

"_Oh, god," she moaned quietly. He chuckled under his breath and resumed kissing down her neck. He found the zipper on her back, and slowly dragged it down, pulling away from her only to let her step out of the dress and for him to tug off the shirt he had been wearing. _

_His eyes flicked over her appreciatively and she flushed. A slight breeze ghosted through the dark room, tossing the aging, dirty white curtains and some wisps of her hair gently. She shivered in her undergarments and gazed back at him. His toned arms and torso were caught in the thin sliver of moonlight that found its way into her room. He stepped back toward her and caught her lips with his. Her heart raced and her knees went weak. She clutched his firm upper arms and for support he broke away once more. _

_She leaned her head back and he dusted her throat with little pecks, before dipping his tongue into the hollow of her throat. A surge of pleasure coursed through her and she whimpered. He set his large hands on her little waist, pulling her flush against his body, and then reached up to tug her hair out of its plait, letting the curls and waves tumble down her back._

"_Geor –"_

"Ivy." a whisper shocked her awake.

She sat up and glanced around, then promptly lay back down, wiping a single tear from her eye.

Why was she crying? She only cried when she had one of _those_ dreams…

_Shit._

Her dream.

She felt herself blush as it came rushing back to her.

"Ivy?" She glanced around the room, and spotted a figure peering around the door.

"Yes?" she whispered. The tall body stepped into her room, and she caught sight of George's face.

"Are you alright? I thought I heard a noise, did you have another dream?" he asked with concern as he perched on the edge of the bed. She gulped and turned away from him as she pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Uh, maybe." she said with a flush, thanking the powers that he couldn't see her blush through the darkness.

"You either did or you didn't."

"I did." she admitted quietly.

"D'you want to tell me what happened?" he asked her.

"Not particularly," she said flippantly, cringing at how cold she sounded, "maybe someday, but not right now."

George seemed to accept this answer, for he stood up and leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Alright. I love you."

"I love you, too,"

oOo

Ivy padded down the dusty stairs barefoot and entered the kitchen in her pajamas. Yawning, she opened up a cabinet and pulled out a mug.

CRACK

With a shriek, she spun around quickly, sending the cup flying into the wall and shattering into tiny pieces,

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF?!" the two of them smirked at her and Fred pranced across the room to lay his arm across her shoulder.

"Now, young Ivy—"

"My birthday is next week!" she screeched indignantly.

"—if you could do magic outside of school, you would understand!"

"Fred is right, darling flower-bud—"

"Ugh, I do _not_ remember you two being so annoying."

"George did you hear that? Ivy thinks we're annoying!"

George wiped a fake tear off his cheek and repaired the broken mug on the floor.

"It hurts so much to know that my lady love finds me and my less handsome twin such a bother."

"Less handsome?! If anything, I'm the handsome one!"

Ivy chuckled and turned back to the counter, making herself the tea she had grown accustomed to drinking during her stay in Britain.

Strong arms encircled her waist and George lowered his mouth to her ear. His breath washed over her neck, making her skin prickle and her eyes widen. She sighed with longing and gulped thickly.

"You look ravishing today." He whispered. She blushed at their proximity and remembered the _very_ eventful dream she had experienced earlier that month. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and stepped away from George awkwardly with her newly reformed mug. Fred was nowhere to be seen. She glanced at George and smiled at his put-out pout.

"There, there lover boy. I just have, um, morning breath…" she lied as she patted his back.

"Oh, right!" he brightened visibly.

Ivy chuckled and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Better?" she asked him.

"Much." He amended. "Fred said he wanted help with something, I'll see you in a bit."

He turned on the spot with a loud crack, and Ivy winced. She knew the two of them only apparated that noisily to annoy her and everyone else in the house.

"'Lo Ivy. You're up early." yawned Hermione as she trudged through the door.

"Yeah, I dunno why… I usually sleep pretty late."

"Mm." Hermione plopped down at the table and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Hey Ivy?" Hermione was looking up at the older girl with a strange expression.

"Yeah?"

"When'd you know that you liked George?" Ivy wasn't expecting that. She pursed her lips and tapped her chin as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Well, when I first saw him I was attracted to him; he and Fred _are_ pretty easy on the eyes," she said with a smirk. Hermione reddened slightly, "the more I got to know him, the more I realized how great of a person he is. The little things were what really opened my eyes to just how much I did like him. I was too much of a dimwit to notice that he reciprocated." she chuckled and Hermione smiled.

"Did you know that we kissed before he asked me out?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"_Really_? I always wondered how you two got together."

"It's not a very interesting story… do you still want to hear it?" Hermione nodded and Ivy sat down across from her and took a long sip from her mug.

"Um, well it was about a day or so before our OWLs. I had a nightmare around two in the morning and I thought it would be better to try and calm down a bit in the common room, so I went down there…" she fingered the handle of her cup with a small smile on her face.

"George stumbled in a few minutes later, and he found me and comforted me. We ended up kissing and falling asleep together on the sofa. He asked me out the next morning at breakfast."

"Ginny's right; that is quite sweet." said Hermione. She grew silent and studied the kitchen.

"'Mione, are you alright?"

"Peachy!" said Hermione suspiciously cheerfully.

"Hermione," said Ivy.

"I-I'm fine." She stammered.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing. It's-it's," she sighed and put her face in her hands.

"I think I might like this person, but I'm not sure. It's ridiculous to even think he could ever like me back." She said in one breath. Her voice rose an octave as she went on.

"If I did like him, that is." She added hastily. Ivy smiled at her and stood up to rinse her now empty mug in the sink.

"Don't rush anything. Let things run their course, alright? Things like this usually have a way of working out, one way or another. And why shouldn't he like you? You're very pretty, and can actually hold a conversation." Hermione considered this, and nodded with a small smile.

"Thanks, Ivy. You give very good advice, you know." She stood up and left the kitchen with a thoughtful look on her face.

Curious. Ivy shrugged and finished cleaning up.

oOo

"Wotcher Ivy!" Tonks appeared at the foot of her bed grinning widely as Ivy groaned and sat up.

"H-h-hey Tonks," yawned Ivy, "what're you doing in here?"

"Just wanted to wish you happy birthday and give you my gift before I went to the ministry!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, thanks! You really didn't have to do that for me," said Ivy.

"Nonsense! Here," she haphazardly thrust a wrapped gift into Ivy's face and grimaced when she bumped her nose with the corner.

Ivy shook her head and unwrapped the package carefully. Inside was a delicate bottle of perfume.

"What are you trying to say?" she said in mock hurt.

Tonks stuck her tongue out playfully.

Ivy picked it up gingerly. The bottom was bulbous and it tapered gracefully. Decorative glass wrapped around it in elegant swirls. She sniffed it and smiled when a creamy floral scent hit her.

"This smells great, thank you so much Tonks." she said with a grin.

"What're friends for? Anyway I've got to go. Kingsley'll have my head if I'm late again." She winked and turned on the spot, disappearing with a soft pop.

Ivy smiled and swung out of the bed. She and Tonks had struck up an unexpected friendship one night, and the auror had quickly become one of Ivy's closest friends. She confided in Tonks things that she couldn't tell Hermione or Ginny. She had become a sort of older sister, offering advice and old clothes she had worn while undercover, that she couldn't fit into normally.

Ivy sighed and threw her hair into a quick braid. She pulled open the wardrobe and slipped into a sunny yellow dress. After spritzing on the nice perfume Tonks had gotten her, she skipped downstairs and took a seat beside Ginny.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" the kitchen chorused with claps and hoots.

"Ivy, 17, and a newly 'of-age' witch—" narrated Fred with an extremely deep voice.

"—the audience is eagerly awaiting her first show of magic—" continued George in an equally deep voice.

"—so we turn to you, Ivy, and ask: what will it be?"

Ivy tapped her cheek and looked at the ceiling. With a grin, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the counter behind Fred where a few eggs lay.

"Wingardium Leviosa." She said confidently, making the eggs float up high.

Fred and George turned to her with identical pouts.

"_Ivy,_" moaned Fred, "That was so _boring_! George and I made the furniture at the Burrow dance around the _second_ we got—"

Crack.

The kitchen burst into laughter as the eggs that Ivy had silently moved over top their heads had fallen and broken into their hair. They both had yolk running down their faces and onto their clothing.

"_That_ was for rubbing in the fact I couldn't use magic this entire month in my face." She said with a grin.

The kitchen was doubled over in laughter now. Fred wiped his face in disgust, while George merely waved his wand and vanished the dripping substance off of him and his twin.

"It saddens me, Ivy, to know you low opinion of us!" exclaimed Fred.

"And to think, I thought you loved me!" George swooned dramatically and Ivy rolled her eyes before walking over to him and kissing his cheek.

"I'm sorry my _darling_ _little snickerdoodle._" She simpered and stuck out her bottom lip in an exaggerated pout.

"Fred, what's she doing?" whispered George with a scared look on his face.

"I've no clue, brother—" hissed Fred with a grin.

"I feel so _terrible_," she drawled with a smirk as she dumped a glass of water on his head with a flick of her wand.

"_Merlin!_" he gasped and spluttered. Fred roared at the sight of him and shoved him up the stairs.

"Don't call me snickerdoodle _ever_ again." George called down the hall.

"Whatever you say, _sweetie_."

"I mean it Ivy!"

The kitchen chuckled at their antics.

Meanwhile, Molly Weasley had other things on her mind as she grinned to herself and finished clearing away breakfast. How George had snagged this girl, she had no idea.

Nonetheless, the two were great for each other; she couldn't have been happier.

Ivy Weasley does have a nice ring to it, she thought.

oOo

"Have I told you just how amazing you look today?" asked George as he leaned over her shoulder to steal the bite of cake on her fork.

"You might have mentioned it a couple of times…"giggled Ivy.

The nice birthday dinner that had thrown together for Ivy was winding down. Most of the Order had been present, including Snape, who sat in the corner by himself and grumpily ate a piece of cake; glaring at everyone that tried to make conversation. Having taken place after another meeting, everyone was glad to forget any difficult topics that had been brought up over glasses of firewhiskey, elf-made wine, and butterbeer.

The majority of the adults were slightly tipsy, and only a few were flat out pissed.

Like Mundungus and Sirius, who currently were strewn across the floor mumbling verses to a crude drinking song they had been belting only moments before.

Mrs. Weasley had had a few sips of wine, and her cheeks were very rosy. She had climbed the stairs to her room to call it an early night, signaling to Hermione, Ron and Ginny to do the same. The three of them had pouted, but obliged after seeing the nasty look Molly had sent them.

Only Tonks, Kingsley, and Remus had remained completely sober; Tonks and Kingsley with the excuse of having to report to the ministry in the morning, while the full moon was nearing for Remus. Nearly everyone had gone upstairs to their rooms or left for their homes.

Fred and George had both had a mouthful or two of firewhiskey from under their parent's noses, while Ivy opted for a butterbeer.

"Come on Ivy, you know butterbeer hasn't got any alcohol in it. It's no fun on a night like this," said Fred with a slight lilt as he gestured vaguely to the remaining adults in the room: an unconscious Sirius and Mundungus, and Remus, who was trying to lug Sirius up the stairs.

Ivy raised her eyebrows at Fred. He waved a small glass in front of her. The dark amber liquid inside it sloshed around. The two remained in a stare off and finally Ivy huffed and snatched the glass out of his hand.

"'Atta girl, Ivy!" cheered George as she took a tentative sip. The liquid burned her throat, but filled her stomach with a pleasant heat. Her cheeks flushed and she set the glass down gently. Her birthday had nearly come to a close, and Ivy made a decision.

"Well I'm off to bed. George, would you walk me to my room?" George raised his eyebrow at her and Fred's lip twitched knowingly. He coughed slightly and rose from his seat.

"I'm about to drop dead. See you in the morning, Georgie." Fred left the kitchen, leaving Ivy, George and a snoring Mundungus.

"Well, let's get to it, shall we?" George offered her his arm, and she took it as he led her up the stairs to her room. She was thanking her stars that she didn't have to share it with anyone, when George came to a stop in front of her door. He turned to her with a smile and she took a steadying breath before reaching up to cup his face with her palm. He leaned into her touch, and she stood on her toes to plant a warm kiss on his lips.

"Happy Birthday," he whispered when they pulled apart. Their faces remained inches apart and Ivy's hands drifted down to his shoulders. The material of his shirt was familiar, and she bit her lip and glanced down at her feet.

"Hey, do you remember the dream I had earlier this month?" she asked tentatively.

"You mean the one you didn't tell me about?"

She nodded and he smiled at her and brushed a strand of hair that had come loose from her plait behind her ear. She shivered at the contact.

"Do you want to know what happened?"

"Yeah—" he was cut off by Ivy when she grabbed his wrist and opened the door to her dark room quickly. She yanked him inside and closed the door before muttering a silencing spell under her breath.

"What—" he was cut off once again as Ivy spun around and pressed her lips to his hungrily. He pulled away with a bewildered expression and held Ivy away at an arm length so he could see her.

"Love, what are you doing?" she flushed and looked at the ground, tracing a random pattern with her toe.

"Uh… showing you what happened…" she glanced back at George, whose eyes were wide with realization.

"Oh, Merlin; Ivy, are you sure?" she nodded and twisted her fingers nervously.

"Definitely. U-unless, you don't want to; that would be fine with me." George chuckled and stepped closer to Ivy.

"Of course I want to, Sunshine. I'm a bloke, what did you expect?" She smirked and looked up at George's face with trepidation. He leaned down and pressed a searing kiss to the corner of her mouth. He walked her backward, and she bumped into the cold wall.

Immediately the scene from her dreams was thrown into sharp detail. The blurry emotions, sights, and sounds were amplified. The passion; the desperation; the absolute _longing_ had been lost in her vision. Experiencing it in a dream drew no comparison to the real thing; she could actually feel George's fingers and their lingering trails of warmth, feel his eyes and the lustful glances they left all over her body.

They lay panting on the full size bed cradled against one another. He brushed the hair off of her damp forehead and she tiredly traced his broad chest. The steady rise and fall of her body signaled that she had fallen asleep, and soon he did too.

And so they slept in sweet bliss, leaving the troubles of the world behind for one night; one night neither would truly ever forget.

**IV**

George opened his eyes and stared at the heavy curtains of the canopy bed above him in confusion. He could have sworn that his bed hangings had been dark blue, not dusty green.

He realized where he was with a start. A quick glance to his left confirmed this, and he grinned at the sight of Ivy's bare back. She lay on her stomach, with her arms under her head and her hair fanned out on the pillow, almost obscuring her face. She was still in deep sleep, so he slipped as quietly as he could out of the bed and pulled on his clothes quickly. Conjuring some parchment and a quill, he jotted a quick note to the girl and left it on her pillow before padding to the room he shared with his twin on the floor below.

He opened the door and grinned at Fred, who was sitting up on his bed and making notes in a thick notebook.

"Morning Freddie." said George happily as he strolled into the room.

"What are you so happy about?" teased Fred with a smirk.

"Oh, nothing…"

"That's a load of dung. You and Ivy shagged, didn't you?" asked Fred. George flushed and mumbled something under his breath as he pulled off his clothes once more, leaving him only in a pair of worn blue shorts.

"What was that?"

"I said yes. Yes we shagged. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Fred snickered.

"Because you obviously didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Git." George climbed into his bed and pulled the covers up around him.

"Right back at you, brother-o-mine." he called.

oOo

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT - 'WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

"Blimey, is that—"

"Harry's here?!" exclaimed Ivy. She jumped up from the floor of the landing and stepped toward the stairs.

"Ivy wait," called George. He grinned at how excited she was and Fred smirked from beside him, "We should probably let him yell a bit more before going down there."

Ivy nodded and plopped down in George's lap, picking up the discarded product notebook from where he had set it moments earlier. Fred and George stuck the extendable Ears into their ears and lowered them down by the kitchen door. The shouting from their room was getting picked up by the ears and George couldn't make out anything from the meetings.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

"Ooh, I don't fancy being Ron or Hermione right now." remarked Fred with a wince. Ivy frowned a bit and glanced at the stairs.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did –" Hermione began.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR –"

"Well, he did –"

Ivy looked up at George, who only shook his head and kissed her temple.

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON –"

"We wanted to –"

Fred sighed and twiddled his thumbs.

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER – "

"No, honest –"

"Harry, we're really sorry!" said Hermione desperately, "You're absolutely right, Harry - I'd be furious if it was me!"

"All right, that's it. I'm going down –" said Ivy indignantly.

"Wait! Let's apparate, yeah?" said Fred with excitement.

"Okay, go!" exclaimed George. They turned on the spot and rematerialized in Ron's room with two sharp cracks.

George grinned at the surprised look on Harry's face. A soft pop behind him signaled that Ivy had appeared finally.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins.

"Hello, Harry" said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"Hi Harry," said Ivy with a smile.

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

"You three passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Harry grumpily.

"With distinction," said Fred, who still had his grip on his extendable ear.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," said Ron.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added in response to Harry's raised eyebrows, and held up the string which was trailing out on to the landing. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the Ear, "if Mum sees one of them again…"

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.

The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.

"Oh, hello, Harry!" said Ron's younger sister, Ginny, brightly. "I thought I heard your voice."

Turning to Fred and George, she said, "It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," said Ginny. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred heaved a deep sigh.

"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snape!" said Harry quickly. "Is he here?"

"Yeah," said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred, Ivy, and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret."

"Git," said Fred idly.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."

"Bill doesn't like him, either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.

They continued on in conversation about many things, and even attempted to use the extendable ears again, before dinner was convened. Fred and George were enlisted to help set the table, and he whipped out his wand to magic them to the table. He noticed Ivy smirk, then scurry off to watch at a safe distance. He shook his head and muttered the incantation.

"Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" his mother shrieked.

All of the items that they had bewitched to go to the table flew out of control. A large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtled through the air towards Harry, Sirius and Mundungus. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screamed Mrs Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"

"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry, Sirius, mate - didn't mean to – "

"Boys," Mr Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense f responsibility now you've come of age –"

"None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" his mother raged, "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy – "

She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.

"Let's eat," said Bill quickly. Everyone hurried into seats, and George found himself separated from Ivy. He glanced down the table and saw that she was seated between Tonks and Bill. With a smirk, he turned back to Fred and Mundungus.

oOo

"We're going to have to watch our step, George," said Fred, pretending to tremble, "with these two on our case . . ."

"Yeah, it looks like our law-breaking days are finally over," said George, shaking his head.

He spun on the spot with Fred and reappeared in their shared room doubled over in laughter; a moment later Ivy materialized with a quiet pop and a glare.

"That wasn't very nice you know." she said as she crossed her arms.

"Ah, come off it Ivy. We're just taking the mickey out of them." said Fred.

"Well you could at least be supportive – " she was cut off by a large grey lump that struck the window. George flipped open the latch and an owl twittered in. It flew to Ivy's outstretched arm and perched there precariously. She untied the envelope from its leg and sent it off again. She brushed her fingers over the heavy, pink paper and smiled at it.

"Oi, who's that from?" asked Fred.

"My sister," she said as she ripped open the flap.

"Annie, right?" asked George as he peered over her shoulder. She nodded and handed him the card, which seemed to be a wedding invitation.

"She's engaged. Her wedding's in October, so I can't go. I'd really love to though…" she said wistfully. "At least I got to help her find her dress."

"I'm sure she'd want you there." said George with finality. She smiled up at him and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks. I miss her." she admitted as she stepped over to the trunk under Fred's bed. She flipped open the lid and pulled out the box inside.

"How is testing for the snackboxes coming along?" she asked. Fred sat on his bed and pulled some of his notes closer to him. George grabbed the extendable ears strewn across his bed and put them away before joining Ivy on the floor.

"Fantastic, although the blood gushes a little too thickly with the Nougats," said Fred.

"Hmm. There's only one thing I can think of that might be able to fix that, but it's a bit hard to come across…"

"Venemous Tentacula seeds!" exclaimed Fred.

"And they're a Class C Non-Tradable Substance." said Ivy with a frown.

"Well, I know someone who might be able to get a hold of them for us…" said George with a grin.

"It's a good thing we're getting some tonight from a certain thief." added Fred.

Ivy raised her eyebrows at the two of them. "You already asked 'Dung to get you Tentacula seeds?"

"Yeah, a while ago. Thought we might need them for some future product, and what do you know? We need them for a product!" said Fred.

"Right, okay…" Ivy trailed off and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. She suddenly jumped up and clapped her hands together. "I'll be right back."

She apparated out of the room, leaving Fred and George slightly bewildered. She reappeared only moments later brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Look at what I found," she spread the newspaper over Fred's bed. She gestured to it vaguely and Fred leaned in to read it.

"Eeylops Owl Emporium, Your one stop shop for – "

"Not that, below it!" she jabbed her finger at a second ad just below it.

"Ninety-Three Diagon Alley… Holy hippogriffs, George, it's old Boulstridge's place!"

'"No it isn't." said George in disbelief. "Merlin," he whispered.

"Old Boulstridge?" asked Ivy.

"Bardolph Boulstridge: nastiest man you'll ever meet, and owns the most useless shop in all of Diagon Alley."

"What does he sell?" asked Ivy with a grin.

"Junk. Literally. '_Miscellaneous Marvels'_ as he puts it. Broken quills, broken wands, broken sneakoscopes, dented cages, glasses with their lenses missing… it's a right mess in there. A prime location, though. Right in the centre of the Alley, and it's a huge."

"Now he's gone and closed his shop! Fred, we've had our eye on that place for years." cried George with excitement.

"And look at this, there's a flat on top as well!" said Fred as he read the listing.

"So what do you want to do?" asked Ivy.

Fred and George exchanged a glance. Fred smiled at Ivy and George hopped up to his feet.

"I'll get Pig. Fred, Ivy, you two should start writing a letter."

Fred grinned widely.

"Will do!"

* * *

**A/N: Ahh! chapter 7! let me know what you think!**


	8. Update

Hi everyone!

Sorry that this isn't an update, but more of a notice of sorts. I hit a bit of a roadblock last month, and realized that there are some things that I don't like at all about this fic. I've decided to rewrite it, and repost it as an entirely separate story. It's called Wonder, and it's going to be outlined in the same general way as Interlude. A lot will be changed, and more characters will be introduced, as well as a major change in format!

Thanks for sticking with this one if you did, and I hope that you'll give the 'new and improved' version a shot.

- justkeepswimming


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